C.S. Turner and J.K. Fox (USA)
software products liability, defect, specification
Software code that fails to properly implement a well defined specification involving safety results in executable code that is “more dangerous than it was designed to be.” This paper deals only with mistakes programmers make in implementing the design safety specifications. It is shown that such defects in code, if they are a substantial cause of personal injury, result in liability without fault – that is, “strict liability.” License disclaimers are ineffective in such cases and the best process in the world is no legal defense. Suggestions are given to lower the risk of liability for such defects in safety-critical code.
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