EU court rules programming languages can't be copyrighted

[ShareShiz]

EU court rules programming languages can't be copyrighted
By Anthony Tosie

The highest court in the European Union ruled yesterday that programming languages cannot be copyrighted, although original works created from programming languages can be.

A European Union court ruled yesterday that programming languages can't be copyrighted. The case was tried in the the Court of Justice of the European Union, the highest European Union court, as SAS Institute, Inc v. World Programming Ltd.

According to the court's official judgment release, the court ruled in favor of World Programming and made the following important statement:

in accordance with [the principle that only the expression of a computer program is protected by copyright], to the extent that logic, algorithms and programming languages comprise ideas and principles, those ideas and principles are not protected under this Directive

Additionally, the court issued a press release that stated its findings in more basic terms. In regards to programming languages, the following excerpt makes a clear statement on whether or not programming languages can by copyrighted:

In this respect, the Court takes the view that, in the present case, the keywords, syntax, commands and combinations of commands, options, defaults and iterations consist of words, figures or mathematical concepts, considered in isolation, are not, as such, an intellectual creation of the author of that program. It is only through the choice, sequence and combination of those words, figures or mathematical concepts that the author expresses his creativity in an original manner.

Essentially, the court is ruling that programming languages can't be copyrighted as they are not expressing creativity in an "original manner," similar to how a mathematical concept on its own cannot be copyrighted. Original works created through the use of that programming language, however, are protected by copyright.

The ruling is important, as ZDNet points out, in that it is similar to the current Google v. Oracle case in the United States, where Oracle is arguing Google infringed on its copyrights by using "a specific 37 Java APIs on Android without a license." While the case outlined above will have no impact on Google v. Oracle (the above case was tried in Europe, while Google v. Oracle is being tried in the United States), it could provide insight in how court systems view programming languages.

ShareShiz Reviewed by ShareShiz on 3rd May 2012. EU court rules programming languages can't be copyrighted EU court rules programming languages can't be copyrighted By Anthony Tosie The highest court in the European Union ruled yesterday that programming languages cannot be copyrighted, although original works created from programming languages can be. Rating: 5

[masterbator]

naturally

[Ladybbird1]

Very petty indeed.... Thanks for the report ShareShiz

[Putin]

I don't see why programming languages made cannot be copyrighted if music can be :-\

I guess there just isn't enough money being bribed by the programming languages industry

They said it can "comprise ideas", SO CAN COPYRIGHTED MUSIC!

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As someone who previously owned a website which sold scripts / software I can say that being posted on scriptmafia had no effect on my sales, it actually increased since it was publicity. Sure, a few people got the scripts/software for free, but I ain't got a problem with that when I get my music for free

I believe copywrong should be banned, completely Creative Commons attribution FTW.