## Facts

- SAS Institute Inc. developed the “SAS System,” a suite of software used for data analysis, and supported a proprietary SAS programming language widely used by customers to write programs executed by the SAS System.
- World Programming Ltd. developed the “World Programming System,” a competing product intended to run programs written in the SAS language and to replicate the SAS System’s behavior.
- WPL obtained licensed copies of the SAS Learning Edition and SAS manuals, and observed, studied, and tested the SAS System’s functioning; WPL did not have access to SAS source code and did not directly copy it.
- SAS alleged that WPL (1) infringed copyright in SAS computer programs by replicating their functionality, (2) infringed copyright in SAS user manuals by reproducing protected content in WPL’s program and documentation, and (3) breached licence restrictions in the Learning Edition.
- A UK court referred questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning the scope of copyright protection for computer programs and manuals under EU directives.

## Issues

1. Whether a computer program’s functionality, the programming language used to write programs for it, and the data file formats needed to use its functions are protected as copyrightable “expression.”
2. Whether a lawful licensee may, without authorization, observe, study, or test a program’s functioning (by loading and running it) to determine the ideas and principles underlying its elements, and whether contractual terms may restrict that right.
3. Whether reproducing elements described in a protected user manual in another program or manual constitutes copyright infringement, and under what standard.

## Decision

- The court held that a program’s functionality, its programming language, and data file formats used to exploit its functions are not “expression” protected by copyright in a computer program.
- The court held that a lawful user who has obtained a program under licence may, without the copyright owner’s authorization, observe, study, or test the program to identify the ideas and principles underlying its elements, when done through acts of loading and running necessary for permitted use under the licence and without infringing exclusive rights (such as by reproducing code).
- The court held that reproducing elements described in a protected user manual can infringe copyright if the reproduced elements constitute the author’s own intellectual creation (original expression); the application of that standard to the facts was left to the referring court.

## Legal Principles

- Copyright in a computer program protects the program’s expression, not the ideas and principles underlying its elements; protecting functionality, languages, or file formats as such would improperly extend protection to ideas and methods of operation.
- A competitor may create an independently written program that emulates another program’s behavior and supports compatibility with its language and file formats, provided there is no copying of protectable expression (including source code or other protected material).
- A lawful user’s statutory right to observe, study, and test a program to determine underlying ideas and principles operates within the scope of permitted use (loading and running necessary for use) and cannot be defeated by licence terms to the extent they conflict with that statutory entitlement.
- User manuals may be protected as literary works, but infringement requires reproduction of original expressive choices; reproduction of mere ideas, procedures, or methods of operation described in a manual is not enough.

## Conclusion

The court limited software copyright to protectable expression rather than program behavior, languages, or file formats, confirmed that licensees may study and test software to discover underlying ideas through permitted use, and held that liability for manual copying depends on whether the copied material reflects the manual author’s original expression.


SAS Inst. Inc. v. World Programming Ltd., Case C-406/10 (C.J.E.U. 2012)