Software Protection - A Comparative Perspective

The aim of the editors of the book was to provide academics and practitioners in the field of ICT law with basic comparative information on fundamental questions of software protection in different jurisdictions worldwide. Lawyers from member firms of MULTILAW in 24 jurisdictions and the legal experts from the Institute of Law and Technology, Faculty of Law, Masaryk University, contributed to this publication. Radim POLCÁK provides a methodological introduction into the topic ("Approaching Software Law"), followed by an essay on the conflict of law rules regarding software ("International Protection of Software") by Tereza KYSELOVSKÁ. Country reports from law firms of the MULTILAW network worldwide give an insight into the respective national legal situations: Argentina (Zang, Bergel & Viñs Abogados) - Austria (Schmidtmayr, Sorgo, Wanke) - Canada/Ontario (Shibley Righton LLP) - Canada (Miller Thomson LLP) - Colombia (Rodríuez & Cavelier) - Czech Republic (ROWAN LEGAL) - Denmark (Advokatgruppen) - France (Jobard, Chemla & Associes) - Germany (Schalast & Partner Rechtsanwäte) - Hong Kong (Fairbairn Catley Low & Kong) - Hungary (Csabai & Partner) -Italy (Astolfo Di Amato & Associati Avvocati/Jenny & Partners) - Japan (Ushijima & Partners) - Luxembourg (Felten & Associé) -New Zealand (Lowndes Associates) - Poland (WKB Wiercinski, Kwiecinski, Baehr) - Portugal (Abreu Advogados) - Russia (Yust Law firm) - Singapore (Donaldson & Burkinshaw) - Slovakia (ROWAN LEGAL) - South Africa (Garlicke & Bousfield Inc.) - Thailand (Tilleke & Gibbins) - United Kingdom (Martineau and Penningtons Solicitors LLP) - USA (Duane Morris LLP/Frost Brown Todd LLC). A comparative synopsis prepared by Matej MYSKA and Jaromí SAVELKA summarizes the accounts of the national legal reports. Funding of this publication was provided by an academic research project of the Czech Ministry of Education and the ESF through operational funds. The editors: Josef DONÁ and Martin MAISNER, attorneys and partners at ROWAN LEGAL, Prague; Radim POLCÁ, head of the Institute of Law and Technology (ILT), Faculty of Law, Masaryk University, Brno.