ITPEC FE Morning April 2018 Question 80
Which of the following is an appropriate description of the scope of software protection under WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)?
Explanation
Both source and object programs are protected — TRIPS protects computer programs, in either code form, as literary works under copyright.
TRIPS Article 10 states that computer programs, whether in source or object code, are protected as literary works under the Berne Convention. Copyright protects the expression, the program as written, not the ideas behind it: Article 9 excludes ideas, procedures, methods of operation and mathematical concepts.
Answer (c)
Why not others:
- •(a) — algorithms and programming languages are ideas and methods of operation, which copyright does not cover
- •(b) — TRIPS draws no line between application and basic programs; an OS is a computer program and is protected like any other
- •(d) — reversed: the program is the protected expression, while the algorithm stays unprotected however it is described
Key rule: Software copyright covers the program as expressed, in source or object code and of any kind; the algorithm, language or protocol beneath it is not protected by copyright.
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