Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

software law
     
         Software may, under various circumstances and in
        various countries, be restricted by patent or {copyright} or
        both.  Most commercial software is sold under some kind of
        {software license}.
     
        A patent normally covers the design of something with a
        function such as a machine or process.  Copyright restricts
        the right to make and distribute copies of something written
        or recorded, such as a song or a book of recipies.  Software
        has both these aspects - it embodies functional design in the
        {algorithm}s and data structures it uses and it could also be
        considered as a recording which can be copied and "performed"
        (run).
     
        "{Look and feel}" lawsuits attempt to monopolize well-known
        command languages; some have succeeded.  {Copyright}s on
        command languages enforce gratuitous incompatibility, close
        opportunities for competition, and stifle incremental
        improvements.
     
        {Software patent}s are even more dangerous; they make every
        design decision in the development of a program carry a risk
        of a lawsuit, with draconian pretrial seizure.  It is
        difficult and expensive to find out whether the techniques you
        consider using are patented; it is impossible to find out
        whether they will be patented in the future.
     
        The proper use of {copyright} is to prevent {software piracy}
        - unauthorised duplication of software.  This is completely
        different from copying the idea behind the program in the same
        way that photocopying a book differs from writing another book
        on the same subject.
     
        {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:misc.legal.computing}.
     
        ["The Software Developer's and Marketer's Legal Companion",
        Gene K. Landy, 1993, AW, 0-201-62276-9].
     
        (1994-11-16)