LEGAL PROTECTION OF COMPUTER PROGRAMS

Abstract

The idea of this paper is to determine how the legal protection of computer programs
is provided. EU legislation takes into account the growing importance of this type of
technology, and more and more attention is being paid to software protection legislation,
in order to ensure adequate security and to encourage individuals to contribute more in this
area. Different legal systems tend to regulate this area through a set of acts and regulations
that generally differ depending on the legal tradition to which they belong. For now, it can not
be said that European, and even less domestic case law, is rich in cases related to copyright
infringement of computer programs. However, several cases, due to their specificity, have a
particular impact on the further proceedings of the courts. Hence, this paper analyzes how the
relevant legislation is applied through the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights in
the case of SAS Institute Inc. vs. World Programming Ltd (WPL). The main legal issues that
run through this paper are all that are subject to protection in computer programs and which
elements of the computer program are protected by copyright.