Software-Enabled Consumer Products

U. S. copyright laws have protected computer software for many years, and today that regime of legal protection supports an industry that is a major engine of economic growth. In the last quarter century, the software industry has added millions of jobs and increased the U. S. gross domestic product by hundreds of billions of dollars. Software has transformed our way of life, paving the way for personal computers, video games, digital photography, the internet, music and movie streaming services, smartphones, the Internet of Things, cryptocurrencies, and self-driving cars. In the near future, software will be behind even more innovations, like artificial intelligence and advanced robotics. In short, as one software entrepreneur famously put it, "software is eating the world."