It would be no exaggeration to say that the only thing preventing mega corporations like Microsoft from disintegrating into an open-source free-for-all is an international system of copyright protection.

The nice thing about copyright is that, unlike other categories of IP, it does not need to be claimed. There was a time where registration was a pre-requisite for copyright protection, most notably in the US. Not so in the EU and, these days, registration has all but ceased to be a requirement for copyright protection everywhere.

The flipside is that software products and software-based services are extremely vulnerable to imitation. There are a lot of misconceptions about the extent of protection the law affords with respect to software. Software functionality per se is exceedingly hard to protect.

The reality is that there is nothing preventing even the most elegant software solutions from being re-written in different code with impunity. Safeguarding against this sort of abuse requires a sophisticated contract infrastructure couched in rigorous non-disclosure and non-compete obligations. This applies to everything from employment contracts to software supply and service agreements.

We have a special affection for software-based businesses, particularly those active in blockchain and crypto. Malta was one of the early trailblazers in the blockchain industry and remains one of only a handful of EU member states with a fully regulated sector for virtual financial assets and distributed ledger technology.

That said, we service all manner of software-based enterprises; from SaaS providers to video game developers. Whatever the nature of your software business, we can help you ensure that the integrity of your most valuable assets is maintained.