Directive on the legal protection of computer programs

The European Union Computer Programs Directive controls the legal protection of computer programs under the copyright law of the European Union. It was issued under the internal market provisions of the Treaty of Rome. The most recent version is Directive 2009/24/EC.

Directive 91/250/EEC
2009/24/EC

European Union directive
Title	Directive on the legal protection of computer programs
Made by	Council of the European Union
Made under	Art. 100a
Journal reference	L122, 1991-05-17, pp. 9–13
History
Date made	14 May 1991
Entry into force	17 May 1991
Implementation date	1 January 1993//25 May 2009
Preparative texts
Commission proposal	C91, 1989-04-12, p. 4 C320, 1990-12-20, p. 22
EESC opinion	C329, 1989-12-30, p. 4
EP opinion	C231, 1990-09-17, p. 78
Reports
Other legislation
Replaces	—
Amends	—
Amended by	93/98/EEC
Replaced by	Directive 2009/24/EC on the legal protection of computer programs
Current legislation

History

In Europe, the need to foster the computer software industry brought attention to the lack of adequate harmonisation among the copyright laws of the various EU nations with respect to such software. Economic pressure spurred the development of the first directive which had two goals (1) the harmonisation of the law and (2) dealing with the problems caused by the need for interoperability.

The first EU Directive on the legal protection of computer programs was Council Directive 91/250/EEC of 14 May 1991. It required (Art. 1) that computer programs and any associated design material be protected under copyright as literary works within the sense of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

The Directive also defined the copyright protection to be applied to computer programs: the owner of the copyright has the exclusive right to authorise (Art 4):

• the temporary or permanent copying of the program, including any copying which may be necessary to load, view or run the program;
• the translation, adaptation or other alteration to the program;
• the distribution of the program to the public by any means, including rental, subject to the first-sale doctrine.

However, these rights are subject to certain limitations (Art. 5). The legal owner of a program is assumed to have a licence to create any copies necessary to use the program and to alter the program within its intended purpose (e.g. for error correction). The legal owner may also make a back-up copy for his or her personal use. The program may also be decompiled if this is necessary to ensure it operates with another program or device (Art. 6), but the results of the decompilation may not be used for any other purpose without infringing the copyright in the program.

The duration of the copyright was originally fixed at the life of the author plus fifty years (Art. 8), in accordance with the Berne Convention standard for literary works (Art. 7.1 Berne Convention). This has since been prolonged to the life of the author plus seventy years by the 1993 Copyright Duration Directive (superseded but confirmed by the 2006 Copyright Term Directive).

Council Directive 91/250/EEC was formally replaced by Directive 2009/24/EC on 25 May 2009, which consolidated "the various minor amendments the original directive had received over the years".

Implementation

Implementation of the Directive by Member States
	Austria	Urheberrechtsgesetznovelle 1993, BGBl. No. 93/1993, p. 1166
	Belgium	Law of 30.06.1994 (French), Law of 30.06.1994 (Flemish), Moniteur Belge du 17 juillet 1994, p. 19315
	Bulgaria	unknown
	Cyprus	unknown
	Czech Republic	Law No. 121/2000 Coll. of 7 April 2000 on Copyright, Rights Related to Copyright and on the Amendment of Certain Laws
	Denmark	LOV nr 1010 af 19/12/1992 updated by LBK nr 1144 af 23/10/2014
	Estonia	Autoriõiguse seadus (2024-10-12)
	Finland	Laws Nos. 418/93 and 419/93, Finnish Official Journal of 1993-05-12, p. 415
	France	Loi n^o 94–361 du 10 mai 1994 portant mise en oeuvre de la directive (C. E. E.) n^o 91–250 du Conseil des communautés européennes en date du 14 mai 1991 concernant la protection juridique des programmes d'ordinateur et modifiant le code de la propriété intellectuelle
	Germany	Zweites Gesetz zur Änderung des Urheberrechtsgesetzes vom 9. Juni 1993, BGBl I p. 910
	Greece	Law No. 2121/93, Official Journal A No. 25
	Hungary	unknown
	Ireland	European Communities (Legal Protection of Computer Programs) Regulations, 1993 (S.I. No. 26 of 1993)
	Italy	Decreto Legislativo No. 518 del 29 dicembre 1992
	Latvia	Autortiesību likums (2000-04-06)
	Lithuania	Autorių teisių ir gretutinių teisių įstatimas N. VIII-1185 (1999-05-18)
	Luxembourg	Loi du 18 avril 2001 sur les droits d'auteur, les droits voisins et les bases de données. Section 7 – Les programmes d'ordinateur
	Malta	Copyright Act, 2000
	Netherlands	Wet van 07.07.1994, Stb. JS-1994, p. 521
	Poland	Ustawa z 4 lutego 1994 o prawie autorskim i prawach pokrewnych, art. 74–77, Dz.U. 1994 nr 24 poz. 83
	Portugal	Decreto-Lei n. 252/94, de 20 de Outubro de 1994, Diário da República – I Série A, no. 243 de 20 de Outubro de 1994, p. 6374
	Romania	Law No.8/1996 updated November 2014, state authority: Romanian Copyright Office, see also Intellectual property in Romania
	Slovakia	Copyright Act of 1997-12-05 (No. 383/1997)
	Slovenia	Zakon o avtorskih in sorodnih pravicah (1995-03-30)
	Spain	Ley 16/1993, de 23 de diciembre, de incorporación al Derecho español de la Directiva 91/250/CEE, de 14 de mayo, sobre la protección jurídica de programas de ordenador
	Sweden	Act No. 1687/92
	United Kingdom	Copyright (Computer Programs) Regulations 1992 No. 3233

See also

• Copyright law of the European Union
• Software copyright

References

1. "Directive 2009/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the legal protection of computer programs". Publications Office of the European Union.
2. Preamble to Council Directive 91/250/EEC of 14 May 1991
3. Mylly, Ulla-Maija (2009). "Harmonizing Copyright Rules for Computer Program Interface Protection" (PDF). 48. Louisville, Kentucky: University of Louisville Law Review: 877–911, page 878. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 June 2010. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
4. Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
5. Palenski, Ronald J. (1991). "The EC Software Directive: Meeting the Challenges of the Information Age" (PDF). Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal. 10 (1): 191–276. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 May 2014.
6. Council Directive 93/98/EEC of 29 October 1993 harmonizing the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights, OJ no. L290 of 1993-11-24, p. 9.
7. Articles 10 and 11 of the Directive 2009/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the legal protection of computer programs, L 111/16 EN, Official Journal of the European Union, 5 May 2009.
8. Jeremy Phillips, Tuesday tiddleywinks, IPKat, 5 May 2009. Consulted on 5 May 2009.

External links

• Text of the original directive on the legal protection of computer programs (no longer in force)
  • Consolidated version of the directive (1993-11-19) no longer in force
  • Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee on the implementation and effects of directive 91/250/EEC on the legal protection of computer programs, (2000-04-10)
• Directive 2009/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the legal protection of computer programs current directive, in force