Legal context Article 1.3 of the Software Directive stipulates that ‘a computer program shall be protected if it is original in the sense that it is the author's own intellectual creation’. The same condition is formulated in Article 2, part 1 of the Belgian Software Act. Key points Belgian doctrine and jurisprudence remain divided regarding the question whether the romantic (continental European) originality criterion applies so that a computer program should bear the personal mark of the author, or whether a lower (Anglo-Saxon) threshold level is applicable. This threshold means that a computer program is already protected the moment it is not a copy of another program. The rulings of the Ghent Court of Appeal of 13 April 2006 and the Antwerp Court of Appeal of 19 December 2005 reflect this division. Practical significance There can be no doubt that legal security is under serious threat, both from the developers of software and from potential infringers. The time is right to put a preliminary question to the European Court of Justice on this matter.