Computer Program

Computer programs are listed among scientific and literary works in LIAW Article 2(1). Source code, object code and preparatory design material are protected if they bear the author’s characteristics. Protection does not depend on registration and lasts for seventy years after the author’s death.

What Is and Is Not Protected

• Protected: Source and object code, preparatory design material, original elements of the user interface (also as visual works).
• Not protected: The ideas and principles underlying the program, algorithms and interface logic. For these, trade secret protection or, where there is a technical effect, a patent may be considered.

Ownership

Economic rights in code written by employees in the course of their work are generally exercised by the employer (LIAW Article 18(2)). For outsourced development, a written contract complying with LIAW Article 52 and listing the rights individually must be concluded with the software company or freelance developer; otherwise the commissioning company may not own the code it paid for. See Author of a Work.

Users’ Statutory Rights (LIAW Article 38)

• Reproduction and error correction where necessary to use the program for its intended purpose
• Loading, running and making a backup copy (cannot be excluded by contract)
• Observing, studying and testing how the program functions
• Obtaining information indispensable for interoperability with an independent program, under limited conditions

In Practice

In software projects, the scope of the licence, delivery of source code and escrow arrangements, obligations under open-source licences and maintenance and support terms are the most common sources of disputes. See Licence Agreement. For AI-assisted code generation see AI-Generated Content.