Ownership, Originality, Copying and Infringement of Software Copyright.

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Thesis statement3

Ownership5

Original5

Copying the work6

Infringement6

Secrecy7

Restrictive Covenants7

Conclusion8

References10

Ownership, Originality, Copying and Infringement of Software Copyright.

Thesis statement

Suing the competitor and an ex-employee for infringement of software copyrights

Introduction

This paper is written on a scenario in which a company “FinTransSoft”, which primarily develops and owns the software for managing financial transactions, is considering to sue its competitor. Bill, ex-employee of FinTransSoft, has switched his company and now he works for a start-up company named “BigMoneyTrans”. BigMoneyTrans is aiming to compete with FinTransSoft (the ex-employer of Bill). FinTransSoft believes that Bill might have used the company codes to develop rival's new product. In this essay, we will discuss the issues in software copyrights, whether the company should sue the employee and on what grounds.

Copyright is primarily a property right. The purpose and motive behind copyrights is to protect the creative efforts of individuals and organizations. Copyright subsists in an original literary work, including a computer program.

Software like other intellectual work can be protected by copyrights. In UK, this immunity can be availed by a variety of intellectual property rights. Copyrights provide its holder with such benefits as, no one else can copy, distribute or make the derivative work on the basis of copyrighted work. (Holland et al., 2007, p.233). Copyrights are often the most appropriate IPR for a computer program (Obhi, 2012, n.d.).

Copyright provides several benefits to the organization involved in creative activities, for example, software developers keep their source code secret. Only relevant people in the organization have the authority to view copy or manipulate such material. Any un-authorized access or copy of such material is a violation of copyrights and company can sue the responsible person for it.

In UK, copyrights originate from two places, i.e. the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and directive 91/250/EC (www. inbrief.co.uk, 2012, n.d.). Conflicts often arise in the industry when a developer (employee) claims for copyright. However, without any prior contract between the employer and employee of such nature, the work produced during the tenure of employment, belongs to the employer and not employee. However, once the employee leaves the company, it is difficult for a company to stop him/her from competing with the company.

In order to be eligible to obtain copyrights, the work must fulfil the basic criteria. In Ibcos Computers Ltd v. Barclays Mercantile Highland Finance Ltd (1994), the appellant was a developer of software in the field of managing agricultural equipment financing. The software developed by Ibcos Computers allowed the agricultural dealers to perform their financial transaction themselves online. This idea was revolutionary at that time. This case is very influential as its judgment lays out the factors that the court will consider while assessing infringement cases.

Mr Justice Jacob presented the way in which to assess such cases and determine whether an infringement of copyright in software has been admitted. First of all it is to find out that the appellant holds copyrights of which work. Then it is to be assessed whether the work is original, has ...