Intellectual Property and the Protection of Apps in the European Union
Abstract
Applications (‘apps’) for mobile platforms – such as mobile phones or tablets – are a product of the digital age, usually with specific characteristics that set them apart from other types of computer software, for instance from applications designed for desktop computers. Producing these apps can be a lucrative business and for some companies the use of apps has become vital. As apps have become embedded in both the personal and commercial contexts, it is not surprising that competition in apps markets has become intense and that apps may be vulnerable to unauthorised copying. The question then arises: what forms of protection can intellectual property (IP) rights offer app developers? Determining the best and most cost-effective forms of IP protection can be difficult for app developers.
In this article the various components of apps are examined individually and an analysis is made of which forms of IP would be the most suitable. These components are (i) the source code, (ii) the Graphical User Interface (GUI), (iii) movements and transitions, and (iv) logos, icons and fonts used in an app. The focus is on copyright, design and trademark rights rather than patents, as patents are generally less relevant to the average app developer. What the analysis reveals is that the IP protection of digital components is still in the main ‘unexplored territory’. Although the law is relatively clear with regard to some aspects, it still contains grey areas as well due to a lack of case law.
Published
Issue
Section
EJLT is an open access journal, aiming to disseminate academic work and perspectives as widely as possible to the benefit of the author and the author’s readers. It is the assumption of the EJLT that authors who publish in the journal wish their work to be available as freely and as widely as possible through the open access publishing channel.
Authors who publish with EJLT will retain copyright and moral rights in the underlying work but will grant all users the rights to copy, store and print for non-commercial use copies of their work. Commercial mirroring may also be carried out with the consent of the journal. The work must remain as published – without redaction or editing – and must clearly state the identity of the author and the originating EJLT url of the article. Any commercial use of the author’s work - apart from mirroring - requires the permission of the author and any aspects of the article which are the property of EJLT (e.g. typographical format) requires permission from EJLT.
Authors can sometimes become no longer contactable (through, for example, death or retirement). If this occurs, any rights in the work will pass to the European Journal of Law and Technology which will continue to make the work available in as wide a manner as possible to achieve the aims of open access and ensuring that an author's work continues to be available. An author - or their estate - can recover these rights from EJLT by providing contact information.
The European Journal of Law and Technology holds rights in format, publication and dissemination.
EJLT, as a non-commercial organisation - which receives donations to allow it to continue publishing – must retain information on reader access to journal articles. This means that we will not give permission to mirror the journal unless we can be provided with full details as to reader access to each and every journal article. We prefer and encourage deep linking rather than mirroring. Encouragement is thus given for all users – commercial and non-commercial – to provide indexes and links to articles in the EJLT where the index or link points to the location of the article on the EJLT server, rather than to stored copies on other servers.
Please contact the European Journal of Law and Technology if you are in any doubt as to what this statement of use covers.
