Computer Program Registration Support Station

Greeting

Computer programs are protected under the Copyright Law, as well as under the Patent Law. Although both of the Copyright Law and the Patent Law protect the computer programs, they protect the computer programs from different sides.

The Patent Law protects a technical “idea”, which is a base of a computer program. On the other hand, the Article 2 of the Copyright Law defines a computer program as follows and protects it: “an expression of a combination of instructions to cause a computer to function in order to be able to obtain a certain result”. In other words, the Copyright Law protects a “completed computer program” itself.

Also, as described above, because the Patent Law protects an “idea” of a computer program, the right you can acquire in accordance with the Patent Law is a certain idea. However, the number of computer programs created based on an idea is not always one. If different computer programs are created based on one idea in common, copyrights will occur for the computer programs respectively.

If you create a new idea of a computer program, we would recommend you to firstly apply for a patent. Once a computer program is completed based on the idea, a copyright will occur for the computer program. At this point, we would recommend you to apply for a computer program registration.

Head of the Computer Program Registration S.S.	Patent and Trademark Attorney	Mana OISHI
Head of the Tokyo Legal Division	Patent and Trademark Attorney	Kenjiro FUJITA