Throughout the 60-some years of modern programming, computer software has not seemed to fit as easily as computer hardware within the traditional intellectual property framework. Most intellectual property protection for software has come through copyright and trade secret laws, and some through patent law, but software developers and users, the courts, and policymakers have engaged in a continual attempt to sort out what should or shouldn’t be protected (from a social perspective) and what is or isn’t protected (according to current law).