In the Czech Republic, the software is protected as a literary work under the stipulations of the copyright act. The protection of software, however, is in a different mode under the copyright, compared to other authors’ works. The only condition for the creation of protection in the case of software is the originality of the software, in the sense that it must be the author's owncreation. There are no other conditions examined for the purposes of protection,unlike with other author’s works (creative nature, uniqueness, individuality,etc.).
Therefore,the software cannot be owned and cannot simply be transferred to another person due to the non-transferability of moral and economic rights of the author. The author of the software or the executor of the rights can only grant another person a license, i.e. an authorization to exercise the right to use the work (in its original or modified form).
In general, it is not possible in continental Europe to protect software by a patent, as it can be protected in the USA or other countries (under so-called software patents). Protection by a patent is possible only if the software has a specific technical effect.
In software agreements it is necessary to set the contractual documentation well, as the provision of software requires subsequent service, or additions to fulfil the client’s requirements, modifications of the system, software defects removal etc. For the effective use of software, it is important not to neglect the quality of contractual guarantees. For the event of default by the supplier, we recommend to also use a source code deposit (or escrow), as the software is often crucial to the operations of the company.