Copyright Protection For Software And Websites

With the increase in patentable subject matter rejections, particularly in the business-method and e-commerce art units, copyright deserves renewed attention as a means of protecting software and websites. While copyright generally protects only the expression of the software and websites, e.g., the code itself, such protection can arise automatically and copyrights can also be inexpensive to register.

With respect to software, the literal elements of a program, e.g., its source and object code, are found to be protectable. In Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp., 714 F.2d 1240 (3d Cir. 1983), the court here held that a computer program, whether in object code or source code, is a literary work protected from unauthorized copying in either form. Non-literal elements can be protectable as well, subject to limits. In Whelan Associates, Inc. v. Jaslow Dental Laboratory, Inc., 797 F.2d 1222 (3d Cir. 1986), the court here held that copyright extends to a program’s structure,