Legal Regime of Preparatory Materials Obtained During the Development of Computer Programmes
Alexander I. Savelyev · Zakon · 2023
The paper is focused on the analysis of the legal regime of preparatory materials created during the development of computer programme. The article outlines existing doctrinal positions on this matter. Special attention is paid to the definition of materials, which fall under the notion of “preparatory materials”, as well as to possible purpose of inclusion of such object in Article 1261 of the Civil Code as separate copyrightable element of the computer programme. It is concluded that unlawful use of preparatory materials for development of a competing programme can be used as a basis for infringement claim (plagiarism), even if source codes of both programmes are not the same.