The Research On The Right Of Alteration Of Computer Programs

Development of technology has expanded the scope of copyright protection, Computerprograms——the protected works of" Copyright Law of The People’s Republic of China", arethe product of development of network information technology. With the depth developmentof information technology, The contents of computer programs’ copyright protection haveundergone substantial changes, it’s no longer just include the literal elements of a computerprogram——sequence of coding instructions, it’s also extended to include the non-literalelements——dates, interfaces and so on, which is inextricably linked with the running of acomputer program. The behavior of modification of a computer program could be dividedinto the type of traditional modification and the type of third-party software modification, Thetype of third-party software modification include the type of direct modification, the type ofsystem interception and the type of packet interception."Dynamic modification" is mainlyrefers to the type of interceptive modification. The difference between types of modificationshouldn’t be the basic of judgment of infringement. Whether the contents of modification arethe literal elements of sequence of coding instructions or the non-literal elements of data andinterfaces, All belong to the scope of regulation of computer programs’ right of alteration. Inaddition, according to the different degrees of modification of computer programs, Thebehavior of modification could be divided into the degree of changed the programs’ function’smodification, the degree of improved the programs’ function’s modification and the degree ofachieved the programs’ function’s modification. Different degrees of modification havedifferent legal effect: the degree of changed the programs’ function’s modification should bethe scope of regulation of computer programs’ right of integrity, the degree of improved theprograms’ function’s modification should be the scope of regulation of computer programs’right of adaptation, the degree of achieved the programs’ function’s modification should be thescope of regulation of computer programs’ right of alteration.In our country, there is no right of integrity and right of adaptation in computer programs’rights system. Also, the third revision of "Copyright Law of The People’s Republic of China"will put computer programs’ contents of the right of alteration into the traditional literalworks’ right of adaptation. This paper argues that it is necessary to reconstruct computerprograms’ right of alteration protection system. Treat computer programs’ right of alteration asone of the property rights, Reconstruct computer programs’ contents of right of alteration as"the modification neither reach to form a new computer program works nor reach to change the function of a computer program", Put the contents, which is the necessary modification toadapt program to the operating environment to achieve the program’s function, and for thesake of study, research, and entertainment to modify, as computer programs’ limitativecontents of the right of alteration.