Summary
This article explains if and how research software is protected by copyright.
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Introduction
Copyright provides protection to creative works, such as research software. It gives the owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, and display their research software.
What is copyright?
Copyright, a type of intellectual property, protects the exclusive ownership of creative works. With copyright, creators control how their work is used, reproduced, and distributed. Upon the creation of a work in a tangible form, copyright is automatically obtained. However, a work then must meet the following requirements:
- Have an original character of its own, which means that the work is not borrowed from other works
- Bear the personal stamp of the author/creator, which means that it is the result of a person’s creativity
Note that copyrighting is distinct from patenting. Work protected by copyright is not automatically assigned a patent, nor is it protected by patent law.
Research software protected by copyright
Original software, including its visualisation (e.g. graphical user interfaces), source code (human-generated, human-readable) and object code (binary, machine-readable), is protected by copyright. A model or an algorithm is protected by copyright in the sense that original descriptions of algorithms laid down in source code and object code are protected by copyright. As soon as code is written and fixed in a digital file, it is protected by copyright.
What is not protected by copyright
Copyright protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. For research software, this means that, although the code is copyright-protected, the functionality or algorithm described by the code is not. For example, if you have developed a unique algorithm that simulates evolution, your code cannot be copied by others, but they can create their own algorithm for the same function (simulation of evolution).
Support
Do you have any questions? Feel free to contact the Copyright Information Point. You can email us at copyright@wur.nl.
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