REPETITION AND LIMITATION: COMPUTER SOFTWARE AND COPYRIGHT LAW.

The article focuses on the copyright law in the U.S. regarding computer softwares. It states that the recent changes of copyright law in the U.S. is particularly abundant in contradictions resulting from the pressure exerted by new information technologies and by the requirements of an information economy. Title 17 of the U.S. legal code specifies "copies" as "material objects," from which the work can be comprehended, reproduced and communicated either directly or with the help of machine. However, the development of the mechanical and electronic gadgets in the 20th century has made the distinction between work and copy even more problematic. One key case with continuous consequences in the status of the computer software is the 1908 "White-Smith Music Publishing Co v Apollo Co."