The debate over the use of copyright law to prevent competition and interoperability in the global software industry. We live in an interoperable world. Computer hardware and software products from different manufacturers can exchange data within local networks and around the world using the Internet. The competition enabled by this compatibility between devices has led to fast-paced innovation and prices low enough to allow ordinary users to command extraordinary computing capacity. In Interfaces on Trial 2.0, Jonathan Band and Masanobu Katoh investigate an often overlooked factor in...

This book presents the history of one of the key debates in the continuing effort to develop a legal framework for intellectual property rights in the burgeoning computer software industry. It is the first full account of the interoperability debate—the controversy over the protectability of interface specifications and the permissibility of