Section 2 of the South African Copyright Act 98 of 1978 (the
"Act") states that computer programs are eligible for
copyright protection in South Africa. A "computer
program" is defined by the Act as "a set of instructions
fixed or stored in any manner and which, when used directly or
indirectly in a computer, directs its operation to bring about a
result".
What does this mean in plain language? It means that if you
write any source code or compile any object code from your source
code, then that code is automatically afforded copyright protection
merely by virtue of you writing or compiling your code. Unlike
patents, trade marks or designs, there is no need for you to
register for copyright protection. Although this sounds fairly
straight forward, there are some major "potholes" that
you must beware of as a South African software developer, and this
article aims to give you the idiomatic 101.
