Only showing this quotation from the SAS case (ECJ) is way too
misleading; code can be copyrighted.
"Thus, only the expression of those ideas and principles is protected
by copyright. The object of the protection conferred by Directive
91/250 is the expression in any form of a computer program, such as the
source code and the object code, which permits reproduction in
different computer languages."
So what can not be copyrighted are the functionality of a computer
program or the programming language. This will matter in i.e. the
Oracle/Google case.
Niels
On Wed May 2 19:30:47 2012, Ali Sternburg wrote:
An excerpt:
The Court (Grand Chamber) hereby rules:
1. Article 1(2) of Council Directive 91/250/EEC of 14 May 1991 on
the legal protection of computer programs must be interpreted as
meaning that*neither the functionality of a computer program nor the
programming language and the format of data files used in a computer
program in order to exploit certain of its functions constitute a form
of expression of that program and, as such, are not protected by
copyright* in computer programs for the purposes of that directive.
The ECJ today ruled that the programming code behind a piece of
software is not a form of expression and therefore cannot be copyrighted.
Link to ruling:
http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=122362&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=110132
<http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=122362&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=110132>
--
Ali Sternburg
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Harvard College, Class of 2009
American University Washington College of Law, J.D. Candidate Class of
2012
http://www.alisternburg.com
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss
