Copyright protection of computer programmes
The Commission has submitted to the Council an amended proposal (COM(90) 509) for a Council Directive requiring Member States to protect computer programmes by copyright as literary works within the meaning of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. The amended proposal further establishes who and what should be protected, the exclusive rights on which protected legal or natural persons should be able to rely in order to authorize or prohibit acts relating to the sale, reproduction and use of computer programmes, and for how long the protection should apply. Member States will be required to bring into force the laws, regulations or administrative provisions needed to transpose this Directive by 1 January 1993, and to communicate such provisions of national law to the Commission.