ARTICLE · 08 FEBRUARY 2024

A GUI Can Be Protected By Copyright As An Artistic Work!

Goldman Sloan Nash & Haber LLP

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A decision of the U.K. C.A. supports the position that copyright subsists in a graphic user interface ("GUI) produced by a computer program.

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A decision of the U.K. C.A. supports the position that copyright subsists in a graphic user interface ("GUI) produced by a computer program. THI Systems Ltd & Anor v Sheridan [2023] EWCA Civ 1354 (20 November 2023)

The Facts

The parties to the litigation were a software developer and an entrepreneur operating a business licensing the software. When a dispute occurred one issue to be resolved related to the subsistence of the copyright in the software as a literary work and in the graphical displays produced by the software as artistic works.

The graphical displays produced by the software consisted of "risk and price charts" produced by the software ("the R & P Charts"). An example of the R & P Charts is reproduced below:

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