Computer programs as copyright

Believe it or not, the Philippines is actually one of the first few countries to give express protection to computer programs from the moment of creation. Section 2 of Presidential Decree No. 49, promulgated on November 14, 1972 and entitled as the Decree on Intellectual Property, specifically listed "computer programs" as among the protected classes of works over which the creator had exclusive rights. That was just a little over a year after the declaration of Martial Law, a time when the term "computer" was still alien to many.

The same protection under Presidential Decree No. 49 remains under Republic Act No. 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines. Below is the relevant section of the latter law:

SEC. 172. Literary and Artistic Works

172.1 Literary and artistic works, hereinafter referred to as "works", are original intellectual creations in the literary and artistic domain protected from the moment of their creation and shall include in particular:

(a) Books, pamphlets, articles and other writings;

(b) Periodicals and newspapers;

(c) Lectures, sermons, addresses, dissertations prepared for oral delivery, whether or not reduced in writing or other material form;

(d) Letters;

(e) Dramatic or dramatico-musical compositions; choreographic works or entertainment in dumb shows;

(f) Musical compositions, with or without words;

(g) Works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving, lithography or other works of art; models or designs for works of art;

(h) Original ornamental designs or models for articles of manufacture, whether or not registrable as an industrial design, and other works of applied art;

(i) Illustrations, maps, plans, sketches, charts and three-dimensional works relative to geography, topography, architecture or science;

(j) Drawings or plastic works of a scientific or technical character;

(k) Photographic works including works produced by a process analogous to photography; lantern slides;

(l) Audiovisual works and cinematographic works and works produced by a process analogous to cinematography or any process for making audio-visual recordings;

(m) Pictorial illustrations and advertisements;

(n) Computer programs; and

(o) Other literary, scholarly, scientific and artistic works.

172.2. Works are protected by the sole fact of their creation, irrespective of their mode or form of expression, as well as of their content, quality and purpose.