September 22, 1986
Computer coding, at least the more modern era of coding that we would recognize, really began in the 1950’s. So, it’s a bit surprising that it took the courts this long to determine that computer code deserved copyright protections. In September of 1986, the US District Court for the Northern District of California handed down a ruling that said computer code is protected under copyright law. What ultimately led to the ruling was the case of NEC Corp. v. Intel Corp. The two tech giants were in a battle over who had the legal rights to produce the x86 processors. And the rest is history!
