United States Copyright Office, Circular 61, Copyright Registration for Computer Programs (2006) (emphasis added). Copyright protection extends not only to the literal elements of a computer program — source code and object code — but also to the program’s nonliteral elements, which are “the products that are generated by the code’s interaction with the computer hardware and operating program(s).” MiTek Holdings, 89 F.3d at 1555 n. 15; see also General Universal Sys., Inc. v. Lee, 379 F.3d 131, 142 (5th Cir.2004) (finding that copyright protection of a computer program extends to nonliteral elements, including “structure, sequence, organization, user interface, screen displays and menu structures”); Whelan Assoc., Inc. v. Jas-low Dental Lab., Inc., 797 F.2d 1222, 1248 (3d Cir.1986) (<HOLDING>). Based on this broad understanding of the
recognizing that the copyright act was amended in 1976 to include computer programs in the definition of protectable literary works holding that while the computer program at issue was within the subject matter of copyright the right sought under state law pursuant to a license was not equivalent to the exclusive rights under copyright as such copyright preemption did not apply holding that conversion and unjust enrichment claims were preempted by the copyright act since they were not qualitatively different from a copyright claim because they contained no extra element beyond those necessary to show copyright infringement holding that an agreement in which a company retained all rights of ownership in a specific series of programs included the copyright holding that copyright protection of computer programs extend beyond the programs literal code to their structure sequence and organization