Such software includes computer operating systems, business applications, and firmware or microcode that comprises the intelligence of microcomputers that control most modern electronic equipment and devices. The potentially horrific consequences of massive failure of the world s computer systems at the Millennium has prompted many companies to reprogram their products and systems. Their attempts at reprogramming raise a number of issues, both under intellectual property laws and under contracts governing the licensing and use of computer products and technology. One of the most obvious intellectual property issues in attempting to eradicate the Millennium Bug arises under the U.S. Copyright Act and similar laws of other countries. Many companies employing self-help in reprogramming computer systems they have acquired from others may be exceeding the scope of their rights under a software copyright license.
Many software licenses permit use, reproduction, and even sublicensing and distribution.
However, such licenses often do not permit modification or the creation of derivative works. In fact, a large number of licenses expressly prohibit such activities as reverse engineering, decompilation, reverse analysis, modification and the creation of derivative works. If a license contains such prohibitions, and the consent of the copyright holder or other authorized person is not obtained in order to modify code, then the modifications made, whether to allow the processing of trans-Millennium date data or otherwise, may constitute a breach of the license agreement and an infringement of the copyright in the code. A few courts have held that implied license rights may exist where rights of the copyright holder are not expressly reserved, even though they are not expressly granted. Accordingly, it is possible that some software licensees may have an implied right of self-help in addressing their Y2K issues.