business, a court will allow a trade secret to be used by someone who discovered.
or developed the trade secret independently or if the holder does not take adequate.
precautions to protect the secret. .
In 1964 the United States Copyright Office began to register software as a.
form of literary expression. The office based its decision on White-Smith Music Co.
v. Apollo , where the Supreme Court determined that a piano roll used in a player.
piano did not infringe upon copyrighted music because the roll was part of a.
mechanical device. Since a computer program is textual, like a book, yet also.
mechanical, like the piano roll in White-Smith, the Copyright Office granted.
copyright protection under the rule of doubt.
In 1974, Congress created the Natural Commission on New Technological.
Uses (CONTU) to investigate whether the evolving computer technology field.
outpaced the existing copyright laws and also to determine the extent of copyright.
protection for computer programs. CONTU concluded that while copyright protection.
should extend beyond the literal source code of a computer program, evolving.
case law should determine the extent of protection. The commission also felt.
copyright was the best alternative among existing intellectual property protective.
mechanisms, and CONTU rejected trade secret and patents as viable protective.
mechanisms. The CONTU report resulted in the 1980 Computer Software Act, and.
the report acts as informal legislative history to aid the courts in interpreting the .
Act.
In 1980 The Copyright Act was amended to explicitly include computer.
programs. Title 17 to the United States Code states that it is illegal to make or to.
distribute copies of copyrighted material without authorization, except for the.
user's right to make a single backup copy for archival purposes. Any written.
material (including computer programs) fixed in a tangible form (written somewhere.
i.e. printout) is considered copyrighted without any additional action on the part of.