Computer Programs Directive
Council Directive 91/250/EEC of 14 May 1991 on the legal protection of computer programs is a European Union directive in the field of copyright law, made under the internal market provisions of the Treaty of Rome. It requires (Art. 1) that computer programs and any associated design material be protected under copyright as literary works within the sense of the Berne Convention on the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.[1]
The Directive also defines the copyright protection to be applied to computer programs: the owner of the copyright has the exclusive right to authorize (Art 4):
- the temporary or permanent copying of the program, including any copying which may be necessary to load, view or run the program;
- the translation, adaptation or other alteration to the program;
- the distribution of the program to the public by any means, including rental, subject to the first-sale doctrine.
However, these rights are subject to certain limitations (Art. 5). The legal owner of a program is assumed to have a licence to create any copies necessary to use the program and to alter the program within its intended purpose (e.g. for error correction). The lawful may also make a back-up copy for his or her personal use. The program may also be decompiled if this is necessary to ensure its operates with another program or device (Art. 6), but the results of the decompilation may not be used for any other purpose without infringing the copyright in the program.
The duration of the copyright was originally fixed at the life of the author plus fifty years (Art. 8), in accordance with the Berne Convention standard for literary works (Art. 7.1 Berne Convention). This has since been prolonged to the life of the author plus seventy years by the Directive harmonizing the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights.[2]
Implementation
See also
References
- ^ Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
- ^ Council Directive 93/98/EEC of 29 October 1993 harmonizing the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights, OJ no. L290 of 1993-11-24, p. 9.