How is computer software protected by law?

From Microsoft Outlook 2002 Help
Computer software is protected by copyright law and international copyright treaties as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. Copyright law and other intellectual property laws in many countries protect the rights of a software owner by granting to the owner a number of exclusive rights, including the right to reproduce or "copy" the software. Copying software without the permission of the owner is "copyright infringement," and the law imposes penalties on infringers.

You make a "copy" of a software program whenever you: (1) load the software into your computer's temporary memory by running the program from a floppy disk, hard disk, CD-ROM, or other storage medium; (2) copy the software to other media such as a floppy disk or your computer's hard disk; or (3) run the program on your computer from a network server on which the software is resident or stored.

Almost all commercial computer software is licensed directly or indirectly from the copyright owner — the software publisher — for use by the customer through a type of contract called an "End-User License Agreement" (also known as a EULA). Different products might have different types of EULAs.