Szoftverjog

What is software law? For most people it is certainly one of the most commonly seen, but often unnoticed contractual relationships, which are incorporated in the always accepted but never read licence agreements. So most of us usually enter into a binding and very regulated legal relationship with a software manufacturer, without knowing exactly what are we entitled to, and what is forbidden for us.

Software form part of our lives: they can be found on our PC’s, smartphones, tablets, and even on such devices as a DVD-player, a smart-TV or a fridge. Within a few years all these devices will connect through our WIFI to our home network, and we will be able to manage and control nearly all of our electric machines from our PC, tablet or phone, no matter where we are. This will be the time of the Web 3.0.

We, as users will enter into more and more software contracts day by day. But software law is not just the world of EULA’s to be concluded between manufacturers and natural persons as users. Large companies as end users often enter into a volume licence with the licensor, and they conclude a lot of different IT-service contracts.

The software companies have got a wide range of contract types, which demonstrate their activity: reseller agreements, value added reseller agreements, support, maintenance contracts, service level agreements, technology transfer contracts, consultancy agreements, outsourcing agreements, IP assignment contracts, software development agreements. Besides the world of commercial software a lot of softwares are available as an open source format under an open source licence.

Users and developers shall know what are they entitled to, and what is forbidden for them. Software law is growing not just from the provisions of the Anglo-American computer contracts, but it has legal regulation in the EU and in USA too, and it has a more and more significant case law also.

Software law as a special field of copyright law is gaining more importance then ever, and it is connected to other fields of law without which IT law is incomprehensible, such as: privacy / data protection, IP law in general, e-commerce, infocommunication law.

In this section you will find some of our essays on software law matters (the essays actually are available in Hungarian only).