CJEU Rules Screen Displays, User Interfaces May Be Copyrightable

摘要

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that the interactive screen displays or graphical user interfaces ("GUIs") used by computer and hand-held op- erating systems may be protected as copyright works — most notably as literary and artistic works: Bezpeenostni softwarova asociace — Svaz softwarove ochrany v. Ministerstvo kultury (Case C-393/09, December 22, 2010). However, a GUI cannot by itself be protected by the copyright in the underlying software code. As a result, software developers will be able to prevent copying — but only to a limited extent.