Java: An Innovation in Software Development and a Dilemma in Copyright Law
Michael P Doerr · Digital Commons (University of Georgia School of Law) · 1999
The introduction of Java software development technology by Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun) raises new issues in an already unsettled and confusing area of law: the copyrightability of computer programming languages.In 1980, Congress adopted the recommendations of the National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU) and passed legislation defining computer programs as copyrightable subject matter.'However, no mention was made about the copyrightability of the computer programming languages used to write computer software.No court has explicitly ruled on the issue of whether copyright protection subsists in a computer programming language.2 Academics have argued both for and against extending copyright protection to computer programming languages.3 The development of Java makes this unsettled issue more interesting, important, and complex.Java was developed by Sun, who describes the technology as "a standardized application programming environment that affords software developers the opportunity to create and distribute a single version of Copyright protection subsists in "literary works."17 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) (1994).Computer programs are classified as literary works for copyright purposes.H.R. REP.NO. 94-1476, at 54 (1976).2