Administrative-legal and civil-legal methods of protecting rights to a computer program

Computer programs are equated to works of literature, but still differ from them, and the current legislation does not always reflect these differences. The aim of the research is to find the optimal options for protecting the computer program code. The comparative legal research method is used in order to emphasize the typicality of the problems arising in the field of protection of rights to computer programs. Judicial practice is generalized in order to reveal the advantages and disadvantages of the existing legal regulation of relations regarding computer programs. The main problem of protecting software rights is protecting the program code from illegal copying or processing. First, it is difficult to prove the fact of the creation of the program by the plaintiff or the employee of the plaintiff. Secondly, the theory about which use of someone else's program code is illegal is extremely poorly developed. Thirdly, with a plurality of persons on the side of the offenders, questions arise in determining the proper defendants and in calculating the statute of limitations by the plaintiff. It is concluded that not only the program is subject to protection, but also the program code.