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| Article |
| Protecting Innovation in Computer Software, Biotechnology and Nanotechnology |
| Dennis Karjala |
| 16 Virginia Journal of Law and Technology 42 (2011) |
| Open Access | Library Access |
|
Abstract: In the 1970’s, paying virtually no attention to the fundamental distinctionbetween patent and copyright subject matter, Congress decided to protect computer programs as “literary works†under copyright law. As a result, a work of technology for the first time was consciously placed under the protective umbrella of a statute designed for art, music, and literature. More than thirty years later, courts still struggle to work out the appropriate rationale for copyright protection in computer programs. Now it appears that two newer technological areas—biotechnology and nanotechnology— may raise similar ease-of-copying justifications for applying copyright, or something like copyright, to innovation within their domains. This article examines our thirty- to forty-year experience with copyright protection of computer software for lessons in better promoting innovation in the biotech and nanotech arenas. It concludes that we should resist calls for protection under copyright and devise a scheme that more aptly addresses the underlying problems. |
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