Walking With Elephants:
Copyright and Software
Prior to 1964 no one had registered computer software with the U.S. Copyright Office. Such registrations continued to be rare until passage of the Copyright Act of 1976. Protection of computer software under copyright was further reformed following the report of the National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU) in 1978. The CONTU recommendations became law in 1980. Since that time there continues to be debate about how copyright should apply to software. This page provides historical information on the application of copyright to software along with information on the continuing debate.
Copyright of Computer Programs by Prof. Lee A. Hollaar (Utah 2007) - A wonderfully concise review of how we ended up with copyright coverage of software and the evolution of copyright and software.
Preliminary Thoughts on Copyright Reform by Prof. Pamela Samuelson (Boalt Hall 2007)
CONTU Revisited: The Case Against Copyright Protection for Computer Programs in Machine-Readable Form by Prof. Pamela Samuelson (Univ. of Pittsburgh Law Review 1984)
Final Report of the National Commission on New Technology use of Copyrighted Works (CONTU 1978)