Software is protected by copyright as a literary work.
... protected by the copyright laws of over 160 countries.
Public domain software
The Copyright Designs and Patents Act defines patents for computer hardware and software, and copyright on software.
Copyright term for software in India is 60 years from the date of publication.
Software copyright is a new extension of copyright law to machine-readable software. It is used by proprietary software companies to prevent the unauthorized copying of their software caca
In IT, copyright most often applies to software, which can be protected by both copyright AND patent law. Most software-related copyright issues are addressed in detail in end user licensing agreements.
Copyright infringement, also called piracy.
Commercial Software
Virtually all software is protected by copyright--even Linux (Linux just has a really broad license). There is also a program called Official Copyright Software that helps creators through the process of registering their works.
An IT professional is often responsible for ensuring all computers he or she is working with have legal software; this frequently appears on resumes and job announcements as software copyright responsibilities.
Assuming the software meets the criteria for copyright protection ("a work of sufficient originality fixed in a tangible medium perceptible by human or machine") the author of the software, or in the case of work-for-hire, the company the program was created for would hold the copyright.