Abstract
We live in a time when the use of technology is simply a way of life. All ages and sexes have access to the software; younger audiences use gaming software and music software apps, while older audiences have access to much more software such as computer operating systems. The classification of software for contract purposes affects the choice of law, remedies, and defences that parties can exercise to an agreement. This paper seeks to provide a clear insight into how software contracts are classified in two different legislative regimes, the European Union and the United States of America, to add to the relatively scarce literature on the importance of classification of software for commercial contracting law.The paper concludes that emerging economies such as China have now entered the software arena, indicating a clear need to unify the current laws that regulate software contracts. Keywords: Software Contract, Classification, European Union, United States of America. DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/118-06 Publication date: February 28 th 2022
Highlights
The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) UCITA began as a joint effort between the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) and the American Law Institute (ALI) to integrate itself with the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) to today’s current essentials for computer and its associated goods and services
Law on software and software contracting is definitely not about to slow down. Emerging economies such as China have entered the software arena and this means that there is a clear need for the unification of current laws
Software that is delivered upon a tangible item tends to be categorized as a good while software that is delivered through other means, such as downloading through the internet is treated as a service
Summary
The significance of software trade in today’s modern world can only be understated. It is recorded that a number of the top profits earning companies in the world happen to be software companies. If such digital content gets provided via physical mediums, for example a diskette, it ought to be www.iiste.org categorized goods in the definition given under Consumer Sales Directive This proves constant reliability on tangibility, which is already recognized as the crucial factor for digital products in the context of exhaustion in the EU’s Copyright law. There was a proposal to introduce restriction that the directive shall only be applicable with regards to respect to the affixed digital content or digital services, and not in regards to additional features of these types of goods.13 This approach is often based on the consideration of a transfer on a tangible medium, it was adopted for the supply via download by some Member States.. In some Member States, the permanent supply via download of intangibles would facilitate the application of sales provisions.
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