COPYRIGHTING COMPUTER SOFTWARE - THE LOOK AND FEEL CONTROVERSY AND BEYOND

In today's society, the development of new technologies generally outp aces the laws and regulations created to protect them. This is precise ly what has happened in copyright cases involving the copyrightability of the ''look and feel'' of a program (the visual displays and specif ic command keystrokes that make a computer program unique). Currently, regulatory agencies and judicial interpretation of copyright law is n ot precise, leading to uncertainty and a lack of uniformity. Until the courts and/or agencies reach some consistency in their rulings, softw are developers and individual programmers are left in a quandary as to when charges of copyright infringement might be served. Although it m ay be difficult to achieve consistent interpretation, US case law does provide some guidance that can aid US developers in not only protecti ng their work, but also avoiding charges of copyright infringement. Th is paper examines the current US copyright laws and limitations with s pecial attention to ''look and feel.'' International copyright aspects , as outlined in the Berne Convention, the General Agreement on Tariff s and Trade (GATT), and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ) are also addressed. It also reviews several cases that deal with (or have somehow impacted) questions surrounding ''look and feel,'' along with commentaries on their individual impacts, evaluates where copyri ght laws stand today, and discusses some possible alternatives for sof tware developers based on the results of recent cases.