European UnionDirective 2009/24/EC on the legal protection of computer programs (Software Directive), Articles 1, 4, 5 and 6
Directive 2009/24/EC, OJ L 111, 5.5.2009, p. 16
In force since .
A copyright: the exclusive rights rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- a directive or treaty
As of .
What it requires
- This Directive is addressed to the Member States, which implement it in national law, so an app meets these rules through that law (Art. 12).
- Treat a computer program as protected by copyright as a literary work, in the expression of the program in any form but not in the ideas and principles that underlie any element of it, including those that underlie its interfaces (Art. 1(1) and (2)).
- Get the rightholder's authorisation before permanently or temporarily reproducing a computer program, in part or in whole, including where loading, displaying, running, transmission or storage of it necessitates the reproduction (Art. 4(1)(a)).
- Get the rightholder's authorisation before translating, adapting, arranging or otherwise altering a computer program or reproducing the result, or before distributing the program or copies of it to the public, including by rental (Art. 4(1)(b) and (c)).
- After a first sale of a copy in the Community by the rightholder or with his consent, you need no further authorisation to distribute that copy within the Community, except to rent it (Art. 4(2)).
- A lawful acquirer may, in the absence of specific contractual provisions, do the acts in Art. 4(1)(a) and (b) without authorisation where they are necessary to use the program in accordance with its intended purpose, including for error correction (Art. 5(1)).
- A person with a right to use the program may make a back-up copy as far as necessary for that use, and a contract may not prevent it (Art. 5(2)).
- A person with a right to use a copy may observe, study or test the functioning of the program, to determine the ideas and principles underlying any element of it, while performing the acts of loading, displaying, running, transmitting or storing the program that he is entitled to do (Art. 5(3)).
- Decompile only as Art. 6 allows: reproduction of the code and translation of its form need no authorisation only where indispensable to obtain the information necessary for the interoperability of an independently created program, are done by a licensee or another person with a right to use a copy (or on their behalf), the information was not previously readily available to them, and the acts are confined to the parts of the original program necessary for interoperability (Art. 6(1)).
- Do not use information obtained under Art. 6(1) for goals other than the interoperability of the independently created program, give it to others except when necessary for that interoperability, or use it to develop, produce or market a program substantially similar in expression or for any other act that infringes copyright: Art. 6(1) does not permit those uses (Art. 6(2)).
- A contractual term contrary to Art. 6 or to Art. 5(2) or (3) is null and void (Art. 8).
What this law does
Article 1(1) requires Member States to protect computer programs by copyright as literary works within the meaning of the Berne Convention, and the term computer programs includes their preparatory design material. Article 1(2) applies protection to the expression in any form of a computer program, and provides that ideas and principles which underlie any element of a computer program, including those which underlie its interfaces, are not protected by copyright under the Directive.
Article 1(3) protects a computer program that is original in the sense that it is the author's own intellectual creation, and applies no other criteria to determine its eligibility for protection.
Article 4(1)(a) includes among the rightholder's exclusive rights the right to do or to authorise the permanent or temporary reproduction of a computer program by any means and in any form, in part or in whole, and loading, displaying, running, transmission or storage of the program are subject to authorisation in so far as they necessitate that reproduction.
Article 4(1)(b) and (c) add the translation, adaptation, arrangement and any other alteration of a computer program, the reproduction of the results, and any form of distribution to the public, including rental. Article 4(2) provides that the first sale in the Community of a copy of a program by the rightholder or with his consent exhausts the distribution right within the Community of that copy, with the exception of the right to control further rental of the program or a copy thereof.
Article 5(1) provides that, in the absence of specific contractual provisions, the acts in Article 4(1)(a) and (b) do not require authorisation by the rightholder where they are necessary for the use of the computer program by the lawful acquirer in accordance with its intended purpose, including for error correction.
Article 5(2) provides that the making of a back-up copy by a person having a right to use the computer program may not be prevented by contract in so far as it is necessary for that use.
Article 5(3) entitles a person having a right to use a copy, without the authorisation of the rightholder, to observe, study or test the functioning of the program in order to determine the ideas and principles which underlie any element of it, while performing the acts of loading, displaying, running, transmitting or storing the program that he is entitled to do.
Article 6(1) dispenses with the authorisation of the rightholder where reproduction of the code and translation of its form are indispensable to obtain the information necessary to achieve the interoperability of an independently created computer program with other programs, if three conditions are met.
Those conditions are that the acts are performed by the licensee or another person having a right to use a copy, or on their behalf by a person authorised to do so, that the information necessary for interoperability has not previously been readily available to those persons, and that the acts are confined to the parts of the original program which are necessary in order to achieve interoperability.
Article 6(2) provides that Article 6(1) does not permit the information obtained through its application to be used for goals other than the interoperability of the independently created program, to be given to others except when necessary for that interoperability, or to be used for the development, production or marketing of a program substantially similar in its expression or for any other act which infringes copyright.
Article 8 provides that any contractual provisions contrary to Article 6 or to the exceptions provided for in Article 5(2) and (3) are null and void. Directive 91/250/EEC, which this Directive repeals and codifies, had a time-limit for transposition into national law of . This Directive is addressed to the Member States. It entered into force on , the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union on .
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