Gadens - Does size count? Protecting computer programs under the Copyright Act

Martina Stevens of Gadens reviews the Federal Court’s decision in Dais Studio v Bullet Creative.

According to Martina Stevens, Petro had been an employee of Dais Studio during which time Dais developed its own specialised content management system (CMS). When Petro left Dais to work for Bullet, Petro took 2 JavaScript files which were part of Dais’ CMS and used them to design internet pages for Bullet’s client. According to expert evidence, the relevant files represented less than 1% of the entire CMS.

Martina Steven reports that Dais sued Bullet alleging infringement of copyright in the reproduction of the individual files or alternatively, infringement of copyright in the CMS as a whole. Although Dais’ copyright claim failed (for evidentiary reasons), Martina Steven notes that interesting questions were raised as to the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the relevant computer programs in the context of the Copyright Act 1968 (the Act)..

“Potentially, any piece of computer code can constitute a “computer program” as defined by the Copyright Act and therefore be protected on its own. Furthermore, a very small part of a larger program can be protected on the basis that it is a “substantial” part of the program, depending on its relative importance and what went into creating it. So, in some cases, a computer program’s bark might be a lot bigger than its bytes.”

Gadens - Does size count? Protecting computer programs under the Copyright Act


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Published:
12.04.08
Category:
Copyright