Software Registration
Protect Your Business Right Now
What is it?
Computer programs or software also have a creative/inventive nature, and are therefore eligible for protection through Software Registration. In Brazil, as in practically all signatory countries of international agreements, these rights are recognized as copyright.
In Brazil, the Copyright Law (Law No. 9,610, of February 19, 1998) specified that software registrations will be regulated by specific legislation, thus, the Software Law (Law No. 9,609, of February 19, 1998) was enacted, which establishes how and where a software registration must be carried out, in addition to stipulating its validity among other definitions regarding software property rights.
How does it work?
Software registration guarantees its owner exclusive rights to its production, use and commercialization. Furthermore, software registration is essential to prove authorship and has become a requirement for participating in government tenders. The registration is valid for 50 years, starting on January 1st of the year following its publication.
Registration may be carried out in the name of either an individual or a legal entity or both, and it is up to the owner to choose this condition, and there may be as many owners as established in the registration. This makes the ownership of the software easily defined, without any doubts about who holds the property rights to it, facilitating negotiations and transfer of ownership, since there will be no need or doubts about the owners.
Registrations granted in Brazil as proof of authorship are accepted in other countries that have signed international agreements, so a Software Registration made at INPI is valid internationally. Contact us to find out in which countries your software registration will be protected.
Why register software?
See the main benefits of registering software:
- Definition of the owner: makes it clear who owns the software, which can be particularly important in the case of companies. Registration in the name of the company makes it clear that it is the company, and not its partners, that owns the software. This can avoid problems in the event of a corporate division, sale of the company, receipt of contributions or investment, as it guarantees that the owner of the rights is the company and not third parties involved with it;
- Internal protection: with the software owners defined, since there can be as many as necessary, it also creates an ease of proof of ownership/creation against misappropriation by people internal to the company, from outsourced programmers to contracted programmers, or even partners;
- External protection: similarly, in cases where it is necessary to prove authorship against the improper use or appropriation of software, registration greatly facilitates the presentation of evidence, since, in the registration, it is possible to include development documents, other documentation, data structures, diagrams, or any document used/produced in the development, in addition, of course, to the program’s source code itself, thus forming a set of easy-to-use evidence;
- Contract object: Software Registration is easily defined as the object of contracts or licensing when necessary, or in Confidentiality Terms between those involved in the development, facilitating the definition of the contractual object;
- Tenders: participation in public tenders of any government entity requires that a Software Registration Certificate be presented as proof of ownership by the participant. After all, this is a protection that the government requires to ensure that the participant is not acquiring an illicit product and, as we know, committing a crime by using pirated software (even without knowledge or intention);
- International validity: (192 countries) of the registration. The Copyright Law protects your work everywhere. This makes it much easier to prove plagiarism and claim your rights.
VILAGE process differentials
VILAGE has its own highly qualified Technology team with years of experience in Software Registration, ensuring that protection is carried out correctly. You will receive all the guidance and support to understand what is necessary, generate the signed documents, as well as detailed instructions on digital signatures and which digital certificates should be used to avoid errors in ownership or protocol, thus avoiding subsequent costs or indefinite delays in the process.
All stages of the registration process can be monitored by the client through infoVILAGE, an exclusive management system that provides transparency and agility in information. The entire process is carried out confidentially and securely for the client.
Frequently Asked Questions
Software registration protects the expression of an organized set of instructions in natural or coded language, that is, the source code. The idea is not subject to protection by law in Brazil and practically everywhere else in the world. The functionality of a software being an unprecedented innovation and meeting certain conditions can be requested by Patent Applicant, called ‘Computer Program Invention Patent’ or in layman’s terms “Software Patent”. Check out our article on this here.
Yes, the contracted company can register the software for me. To avoid this type of risk, it is important that the service provision contract with the development company clearly establishes who will own the source code resulting from the development and who will have the rights to it. The contract can even define that the software must be registered in the name of the contracting party, as well as the inclusion of several other security clauses for both parties. Learn more by consulting our contract and licensing services.
If the changes are only bug fixes and minor improvements that do not alter the general structure of the source code, we can dispense with a new registration. If there are major modifications, or the inclusion of new features, or the refactoring of large code modules, or even the accumulation of many corrections over a period of time, it is suggested to update the registration.
It depends. If there is a full or partial copy of your source code and this copy was used by the former employee to create, in whole or in part, his software, this is illegal under law 9.609/98, and you can prevent him from selling the software. To this end, having the registration of your software will make it easier to produce evidence that can be used in court. On the other hand, if he has developed another source code that is completely new and different from yours, but for the same business objective (idea), this does not constitute a breach of rights.
No, unless otherwise stipulated, the rights relating to the computer program, developed and created during the term of an employment contract or statutory employment relationship, expressly intended for software research and development, will belong exclusively to the employer, service contractor or public agency. As a rule, an employee hired as a “programmer” will not have rights to the software developed for the employer. This may not easily extend to outsourced contractors, so it is important to make this very clear in service contracts or confidentiality agreements between the parties, including employees.
This will depend on the license used by the “free software”, as each license offers a different type of permission and/or restriction. Some require that the resulting software be “free” as well, including the distribution of the source code itself, at no cost to users. Others allow the resulting software to be “closed” and can be sold normally. In these cases, it is possible to register only the new parts added, if they are relevant.
It can be protected through software registration, trademark and copyright of the screen design.
In principle, it is possible to register both versions once, but it is important to evaluate the desired business strategy, including whether the name of both will be the same, whether it was developed by different teams/outsourced companies or not, and whether there will be different owners for both versions. Since there is only one software, registering once is sufficient.
Any service, platform, or solution that operates through software can be registered, just like any other software
If the website has no functionality or is not an online system, for example, it does not make sense to register it as software. In these cases, it is recommended that you register the website, which will protect the texts, layout/design, images and all the “visual” production of the website. If you intend to register the name of the website, called “Domain Registration”, which is done independently of content or programming, learn more here.
It depends on how the software is marketed. If the software is licensed by modules, with an individual description of each module, it may be a good idea to register each module. This way, licensing contracts or participation in bids in which only one module will be presented will be done in a simple manner and without the need for explanations. If the licensing is done with all modules at the same time, as a single piece of software, it is recommended to register only once.
Yes, the system’s source code can be registered as software with the INPI; the application or how the system is used is not relevant for software registration. It is recommended not to register software for websites, which are normally written only in HTML; in these cases, it is recommended to register the website.
