In SAS v. WPL, the Federal Circuit Finally Gets Something Right on Computer Copyright

Figuring out the correct boundaries of software copyright protection is a difficult task. As several judges have put it, “applying copyright law to computer programs is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces do not quite fit.” Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit solved one piece of that puzzle, by approving a procedural framework for analyzing software copyright cases.

Previously, the Federal Circuit failed miserably at solving that puzzle. It had issued two horrible computer …