Source Code, Object Code, and The Da Vinci Code: The Debate on Intellectual Property Protection for Software Programs

摘要

For many years, the courts in England and the Unit-ed States have tried to balance the protection of an author's skill and labor with the competing notion of a free market in which ideas are adapted in the search for newer and better products. It is sometimes argued that "what is worth copying is worth protecting." This statement is only a crude approximation of the central theme in a debate that remains as controversial now as it was 25 years ago—the suitability of a copyright or a patent-based regime for software programs.