Legal Protection of Computer Software (5th edition)

This useful book now in its fifth edition was published last year but is still fully up to date (to 1 March 2008). Written by Professor David Bainbridge, emeritus professor at Aston University, it covers all areas of computer law and is a very readable paperback which would be a useful addition to the library shelves of many commercial lawyers, even if they only rarely have to look at the law in this field.

It has chapters on copyright law, copyright and computer programs, non-textual copying, copyright in databases, database right, copyright in the information society, protection of computer graphics, patent law, patents and software, confidentiality and software and competition law and software. It includes as appendices the EU software directive (wrongly named on the contents page as the database directive), database directive, copyright harmonisation directive, draft software patents directive (which has not made much headway) and an appendix with useful websites and links.

Computer law has come a long way since the first edition of this book was published. Indeed I remember drafting computer contracts at Slaughter and May in 1985/86 when the stock market was only just becoming electronic and no one had computers on their desks. Now office life without email and word processing seems inconceivable. The law has largely kept up, and the few EU directives in this field are all covered in this book.

Although the author has managed to keep the book very up to date, obviously there have been some developments since publication last year; such as the recent database right decision in Directmedia Publishing GmbH v Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg Case C-304/07, and the software patents case at the end of 2008 (Symbian Ltd v Comptroller General of Patents [2008] ECWA Civ 1066).

The book is very readable and easy to understand and lawyers in a hurry would find all they need to know quickly and efficiently '“ which is more than can be said for many law books.