Anti-circumvention Prohibitions and the Function of the Work

Abstract

Many products contain embedded computer programs that are protected by technological protection measures (TPMs). Some right to repair advocates claim that legal prohibitions against circumventing TPMs that control access to copyright-protected works impose barriers to repairing these goods. Recognition of this problem has led to exceptions to anticircumvention prohibition regimes. Focusing on Australian and United States law, this article argues that these initiatives overlook a key question: whether, in the context of copyright-protected computer programs, the concept of a “work” includes the function performed by those programs. Disaggregating “function” from the “work” requires a closer l..