December 12 is a significant anniversary for the high-tech industry: 36 years ago, Congress enacted the Computer Software Copyright Act. This law ended a debate by judges and government officials that raged for more than a decade about whether software should be protected under intellectual property laws. What followed in the 1980s was the PC revolution.

Computer software has revolutionized the world. It is in everything, not just our laptops and smart phones. This is not hyperbole. It runs mundane consumer products like coffee machines, refrigerators, and cars. It runs commercial and industrial processes, such as cash registers, elevators, and oil drilling platforms. There is no more prominent example of innovation today.