Legal Protection of Computer Software

By

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Development of computer software protection1

Classification of software4

System Software4

Programming Software5

Application Software5

Scope of copyright protection6

Aims of protection for computer software8

Aim of the dissertation10

Research questions11

Organization of the dissertation12

BIBLIOGRAPHY13

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Development of computer software protection

As the use of computers and computer software increases, so does the propensity for abuse. Software piracy, the illegal duplication of software, is a major problem confronting the software industry. In order to get rid of computer software piracy, the introduction of new laws and increased efforts enforce copyright protection. A new anti-copying law is proposed which makes owning or producing unauthorized copies of copyrighted works a felony if they have a retail value over $2,500.

According to the Wall Street Journal (1997), President Clinton is expected to sign a bill outlawing the offering of free copyrighted software over the Internet without prior permission of the software maker. Attitudes toward software piracy may be derived from a subset of business ethics and ethical decision making. Software viruses and software piracy have added to an increased emphasis on computer ethics such as the development of formal computer policies and the development of ethical standards and education

Despite the calls of such noted academicians as Eric, there is, to date, very little research in the ethical areas of the Management Information Systems (MIS) field. Perhaps the most visible ethical and financial problem faced by MIS practitioners (and, more specifically, by the software industry) today is that of software piracy. In almost all cases, a software package is accompanied by a licensing agreement that details the purchaser's rights regarding the making of copies of the software. Breaching this contract is illegal and copying the software outside of the scope allowed by the license is considered to be software piracy.

The illegal copying of software in the United States alone costs software producers billions of dollars annually. Billions more are lost through foreign pirating, causing intellectual property rights to become a topic of debate in such high level diplomatic affairs as the 1995 international trade talks with China. Organizations and industry groups such as the Software Publishers Association (SPA) have stepped up their efforts to reduce these financial losses with some success, but software piracy is still a major problem in today's business environment. This may be due, in part, to the fact that very little research has attempted to identify the factors involved in the individual's decision to pirate software.

Despite the papers of Davidson calling for more work in the ethical areas of MIS (and their specific mention of intellectual property rights), there is a paucity of detailed literature regarding software piracy. Most of the research to date consists of surveys gauging the attitudes and practices of students and professionals. These surveys are used to gamer statistics regarding the problem, but do not address the issue of why the illegal behaviour takes place. This may be attributed to the fact that software piracy has only recently become a topic of discussion in the academic ...