ion programs and the end user. Application software consists of oneor more computer programs that fulfill a specific function for the user likeword processing, bookkeeping or financial analysis.Two legal cases recently within the last few years has brought to light thecontroversy regarding the copyright protection of software elements. Until1992, most of the federal courts followed the decision in Whenlan v JaslowDental Laboratory as a precedent for similar cases. Whenlan, a small softwarecompany wrote a accounting program for Jaslow Dental Laboratory company.Jaslow rewrote the software to run on personal computers and proceeded to sellthe product. The software was identical to Whenlans in the data structures,logic, and the program structure, except for the source code. Jaslow arguedthat the duplicated elements were part by the of the idea - not the expression.The court in response felt that the data structures, logic, and the programstructure comprised to make a single function of a computer program, thereforecopyright protection should be given to those elements also.In 1992, this protection was weakened by Computer Associates v. Altai, Inc. ,when Altai a software developer was accused of copying various modules of asoftware package developed by Computer Associates which controlled the runningof applications on IBM mainframes. The court rejected Whelan's premise that acomputer program embodies one function because programs are made up ofsub-routines that contain their own idea. The court recognized that this wouldnarrow the scope of software copyright protection and found this in accordancewith the Government's intent of computer programs with copyright. This is whycurrently software copyright is not as broad as it once was.All the above mentioned licenses and anti-piracy precautions cost billions ofdollars each year, in both direct and opportunity costs. These costs areshared by anybody that is involved with any aspect...
