In particular, the amendment of section 117, which created a limited privilege to copy or adapt a copyrighted computer program, has brought the Act's framework to bear on issues concerning the proper scope of that privilege found in the section. A key issue in the debate over the computer program copyright is whether section 102 of the 1976 Act includes computer software among original works of protected ownership. This article examines the historical view of the computer program copyright, analyzes the issues and philosophy of section 102 in terms of the works of authorship requirement and the Federal courts' view of how that provision applies to software, and outlines the courts' attempt at relational balancing. The article also explores the courts' application of sections 107 and 117 to cases involving computer program copyrights. 346 notes