Functional compatibility and the law: from the necessity of clean room development of computer software to the copyrightability of computer hardware

Author

Siegel, D.R.

Author_Institution

Skjerven, Morrill, MacPherson, Franklin & Friel, Santa Clara, CA, USA

fYear

1988

fDate

Feb. 29 1988-March 3 1988

Firstpage

361

Lastpage

367

Abstract

A detailed summary and outline is given of the influence of patent and copyright law on the computer industry. In particular, the focus is on the effect of this body of law on functional compatibility of available computers, present and future. It covers: the source of the conflict between the patent and copyright laws; the expanding scope of copyright protection of computer software, including the idea-expression dichotomy, the merger doctrine, and clean-room development of software; and the possible copyright protection of computer hardware.<>

Keywords

industrial property; legislation; clean room development; computer hardware; computer industry; computer software; copyright law; copyright protection; functional compatibility; idea-expression; merger doctrine; patent; Computer aided instruction; Computer industry; Concrete; Copyright protection; Costs; Hardware; Patent law; Reverse engineering; Software; Technological innovation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Compcon Spring '88. Thirty-Third IEEE Computer Society International Conference, Digest of Papers

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA, USA

Print_ISBN

0-8186-0828-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CMPCON.1988.4890

Filename

4890