Recent Developments in Copyright and Patent Protection of Computer Software

The law of Singapore has yet to deal with any of the new and difficult issues peculiar to the protection of intellectual property rights in computer programs, but it is probably only a matter of time before it does. When that time comes, we shall have the luxury of being able to learn from the experience of other jurisdictions. It is proposed in this article to briefly identify the major legal issues peculiar to the intellectual property protection of computer programs and consider developments over the last couple of years with an eye to the lessons that they hold for us. Constraints of space means that consideration will be limited to landmark cases or statutory interventions and trends in the law that have become discernible over that period in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia,