10 August 2015CopyrightMichiel Rijsdijk

Shared copyright of a software application

The case concerned ‘Mr X’, ‘Mr Y’ and an application called eKidz. The idea, functionality and interface design of the application originated from X, who had hired Y to develop the actual application. They worked together, with X leading the project and setting the course. This ended when a dispute between the parties arose. As the creator of the idea, the functionalities and the interface of the application, X claimed to be the owner of all copyright material related to the application, which Y disputed.

The court had to answer the question of whether the application could be (partially) protected by copyright, and if so to whom this would be attributable.

The court referred to article 10 (12) of the Dutch Copyright Law, which says that a computer program (which includes an application) can be a copyright-protected work. According to the court, a computer program can consist of two separate components: the source code and the interface, which can both be subject to copyright protection.

The court considered that the interface is not a computer program within the meaning of article 10 (12). However in this case, the design of the interface itself met the requirements for ‘regular’ copyright protection, which state that subject matter must be original in the sense that it is the author’s own intellectual creation. Because X created these interfaces, and they are part of eKidz, X is therefore the copyright owner of the interface component of the application.

The protection of the source code of the application is based on article 10, sub 12 of the law, as it is the basis of a computer program. The code was written by Y, who claimed to be the copyright owner. X disputed this, stating that the source code was inspired by X’s vision of the interface and idea of the application. The court agreed with Y, considering that Y was free to decide in which way the source code was created, provided it led to the desired functionality and interfaces. Y was considered to be the copyright owner of the source code.

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