Robert Gomulkiewicz’s Software Law and Its Application, Third Edition covers the statutes, cases, and regulations that provide legal protection for computer software with a practice-focused approach.
The purchase of this ebook edition does not entitle you to receive access to the Connected eBook on CasebookConnect. You will need to purchase a new print book to get access to the full experience including: lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities, plus an outline tool and other helpful resources.
Key Features:
Practice-focused, Gomulkiewicz covers real-world timely issues, including open-source software
Chapters begin with an overview to provide context and cover common scenarios, allowing students to learn by applying relevant texts as they would in law practice
Discussion questions and in-class exercises provide opportunities for students to “practice law” in the classroom setting as business and litigation lawyers
Lightly edited cases give students a case-reading experience closely approximating law practice and instructors relevant materials to draw on
Beyond cases, students work with licenses, NDAs, and other documents commonly used in the software industry
New to the Third Edition:
Updated cases, including the Supreme Court’s important Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. case
Updated materials on software patents
Updates on business model innovation
New references to background readings on the software industry
Professors and students will benefit from:
Learning how all forms of intellectual property apply in the software industry
Understanding the role that software licensing plays in technological and business model innovation
Considering business law and litigation scenarios commonly faced by lawyers in the software industry
Author(s): Robert Gomulkiewicz;
Series: Aspen Select Series
Publisher: Aspen Publishing
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 641
· CONTENTS ·
Preface xix
Acknowledgments xxi
1. Introduction to Legal Protection for Software 1
I. Introduction 1
II. A Brief History of the Software Industry 2
A. Software Industry Progress 2
B. Another Lens: What Does the Software User Experience? 4
III. An Interlude: The Forms of Software and Software Development 4
A. Forms of Software 4
B. A Description of the Software Development Process 7
IV. Brief History of Legal Protection for Software 8
A. Copyright 8
B. Patents 9
C. Trade Secrets 10
D. Trademarks and Trade Dress 11
E. Software Licensing 11
F. Boundaries on Legal Protection 12
V. Direction of the Book 13
2. Copyright Protection 15
I. History 15
II. Protecting the Literal Elements of Software 16
Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp. 16
Questions 21
Exercises 22
xi
xii Contents
III. Protecting the Non-Literal Elements of Software: Program
Structure 22
Whelan Associates, Inc. v. Jaslow Dental Laboratory, Inc. 23
Questions 30
Exercises 31
Computer Associates International, Inc. v. Altai, Inc. 31
Gates Rubber Co. v. Bando Chemical Industries, Ltd. 39
Questions 51
Exercises 52
IV. Protecting the Non-Literal Elements of Software: Interfaces 52
Data East USA, Inc. v. EPYX, Inc. 52
Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp. 56
Questions 62
Exercises 63
Lotus Development Corp. v. Borland International, Inc. 63
Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. 73
Questions 84
Exercises 85
3. Trade Secret Protection 87
I. Introduction 87
II. Defining Trade Secrets 88
Uniform Trade Secrets Act §1 88
Defend Trade Secrets Act 18 USC §1839(3) 88
Restatement of Torts §757 89
Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition §39 89
Questions 90
Exercises 90
III. Reasonable Measures in the Software Industry 91
Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition §39 92
Questions 92
Exercises 92
IV. NDAs in the Software Industry 93
Non-Disclosure Agreement 93
Questions 98
Exercises 98
Contents xiii
V. Misappropriation of Trade Secrets 99
Uniform Trade Secrets Act §1 99
Restatement of Torts §757 100
A. Discussion of Departing Employees in the Software Industry 100
Systems and Software, Inc. v. Barnes 101
Edwards v. Arthur Andersen LLP 104
Novell Inc. v. Timpanogos Research Group Inc. 109
Microsoft Corp. v. Kai-Fu Lee and Google Inc. 138
Questions 146
Exercises 147
B. Reverse Engineering Object Code 149
Data General Corp. v. Grumman Systems Support Corp. 150
Bowers v. Baystate Technologies, Inc. 153
Questions 158
Exercise 159
4. Trademark and Trade Dress Protection 161
I. Introduction 161
II. Selecting and Using Trademarks in the Software Industry 161
A. Trademarks: Personal Computers 161
Business Law Questions 162
B. Platform Compatible Applications 162
Business Law and Litigation Questions 162
Exercise 163
C. Open Source Software and Trademarks 163
Business Law Questions 163
D. Industry Convergence 163
Trademark License Agreement Between Apple Computer, Inc.
and Apple Corps Ltd.
164
Exercises 176
III. Business Models and Their Relevance to Weak or Strong
Trademark Protection
177
Rescuecom Corp. v. Google Inc. 177
General Discussion Questions 183
IV. Trade Dress and Trademark Protection for User Interface Design 183
TrafFix Devices, Inc. v. Marketing Displays, Inc. 183
xiv Contents
Exercise 189
5. Patent Protection 191
I. Introduction 191
II. Patentable Subject Matter 192
Gottschalk v. Benson 192
Diamond v. Diehr 197
In re Alappat 202
Bilski v. Kappos 210
Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International 219
In re Nuijten 227
Questions 237
Exercises 238
III. Infringement 239
Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp. 239
NTP, Inc. v. Research in Motion, Ltd. 246
Limelight Networks, Inc v. Akamai Technologies, Inc. 256
Questions 261
IV. Remedies 262
eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. 262
Uniloc USA, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp. 264
Questions 272
6. Software Licensing 275
I. Introduction: Why Licence Software? 275
II. Brief History of Software Licensing 275
A. Licensing for Software Development 275
B. Software for Users 276
III. The Landscape of Software Licensing 276
A. Upstream Licenses 276
1. Licenses to Build Products 277
2. Licenses to Create Customer Solutions 277
3. Source Code Licensing 278
IV. Confidential Source Code Licensing 280
Source Code License Agreement 280
Questions 284
Contents xv
Exercise 285
V. Open Source Code Licensing 286
The Open Source Definition 286
General Public License (GPL), Version 2 288
General Public License (GPL), Version 3 294
The BSD License 305
Apache License 306
Jacobsen v. Katzer 309
Questions 317
Simple Public License (SimPL-2.0) 318
Exercises 320
VI. Multimedia Product Development 320
Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd. v. Walt Disney Company 320
Exercise 325
VII. Downstream Licenses 326
A. Licenses to Distribute Software 326
B. Licenses That Describe Usage 326
1. “Custom” End User Licenses 326
2. Standard Form Mass Market End User Licenses 326
3. License or First Sale? 327
Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc. 328
Adobe Systems Inc. v. Stargate Software Inc. 338
Questions 345
Exercises 345
4. Contract Formation 345
Arizona Retail Systems, Inc. v. The Software Link, Inc. 346
ProCD, Inc. v. Matthew Zeidenberg 353
Specht v. Netscape Communications Corp. 359
Questions 364
Exercises 364
7. Ownership of Software Development 365
I. Introduction 365
II. Copyright Ownership: Independent Contractors 366
Aymes v. Bonelli 366
xvi Contents
Questions 369
Exercises 370
Asset Marketing Systems, Inc. v. Gagnon 370
Questions 376
Exercise 377
III. Copyright Ownership: Joint Development 377
Ashton-Tate Corp. v. Ross 377
Questions 380
Exercises 380
IV. Patent Ownership 381
Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University v.
Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. 381
Questions 381
Exercises 382
V. Services Contracts for Software Development 382
Software Services Agreement 382
Questions 391
Exercises 391
8. Interoperability and Standards 393
I. Introduction 393
II. Platform Compatibility 393
Sega Enterprises, Ltd. v. Accolade, Inc. 394
Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc. 402
Micro Star v. FormGen Inc. 408
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. v. Connectix Corp. 414
Davidson & Associates d/b/a Blizzard Entertainment v. Jung 422
European Union Legislation 426
Questions 427
Exercises 428
III. Industry Standards 429
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Patent Policy 430
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standards
Association Patent Licensing Policy 440
In re Dell Computer Corp. 442
Broadcom Corp. v. Qualcomm Inc. 453
Contents xvii
Rambus Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission 461
Ericsson, Inc. v. D-Link Systems, Inc. 469
Microsoft Corporation v. Motorola, Inc. 480
Questions 494
Exercises 495
9. Boundaries of Protection 499
I. Introduction 499
II. Copyright Misuse 500
Lasercomb America, Inc. v. Reynolds 500
Apple, Inc. v. Psystar Corp. 504
Questions 510
Exercise 511
III. Antitrust 511
United States v. Microsoft Corp. 511
Novell, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation 561
Daniel Wallace v. International Business Machines Corp. 573
Questions 576
Exercises 577
IV. Preemption 577
Vault Corp. v. Quaid Software Ltd. 577
National Car Rental System, Inc. v. Computer Associates
International, Inc. 581
Davidson & Associates d/b/a Blizzard Entertainment v. Jung 588
Questions 592
Exercise 592
V. Section 117(c) of the Copyright Act 592
Storage Technology Corp. v. Custom Hardware
Engineering & Consulting, Inc. 592
Questions 607
10. Business Model Innovation 609
I. Introduction 609
II. Case Study: Mass Market Software 609
Legal Analysis of the Business Models 610
III. Case Study: Open Source Software 610
Legal Analysis of the Business Models 612
xviii Contents
IV. Case Study: Platform Competition 613
A. Navigator and Java—Internet Explorer and Windows 613
B. Apple iPhone and Safari 614
C. Google Search and Chrome 614
Legal Analysis of the Business Models 614
Table of Cases 617
Index
