The Ups and Downs of Look and Feel.

COPYRIGHT of software; USER interfaces; HUMAN-computer interaction; GRAPHICAL user interfaces; COMPUTER software laws; COMPUTER security; STATUTES; LAW

Look and feel continues to be bandied about as a shorthand term for lawsuits involving user interfaces, both in the copyright case law and in the popular press, notwithstanding the lack of any meaningful definition of it. The U.S. Congress did decide to protect texts of computer programs by the copyright law but neither the definition of computer programs nor the legislative history of the computer program amendments gives any indication of an intent to provide copyright protection for the functional results generated when program instructions are executed, such as program behavior. The Computer Associates vs. Altai decision says that program behavior is unprotectable by copyright law under the provision of the copyright statute that excludes such things as processes and procedures from copyright protection. If this is so, there is yet another reason why the look and feel of computer programs should not be protected by copyright law.