SOFTWARE COPYRIGHT; IP EVENT; IPKAT MAILINGS


SA Supreme Court software copyright case

The South African Supreme Court (SCA) has decided a case on copyright in computer programs, IOL reports. Anton Haput developed the Data Explorer software and claimed that his copyright in this was infringed by the All Media Products Survey software. The SCA held that the writer of AMPS had copied a substantial part of the Data Explorer source code because he found it too difficult to write himself. The court held that substantiality is a qualitative, rather than quantitative question and that the AMPS writer had taken a particularly valuable part of the Data Explorer source code.

A quick glance at the judgment shows that the court also deals with originality, authorship and computer generated works.

The IPKat says this test of substantiality sounds jolly sensible, although qualitative taking is more difficult to assess objectively than quantitative taking. Readers should note that this appears to be a straight source code copying case, rather than a ‘look and feel’ case.

Full text available here


Word IP Day event

The IPKat has been informed about the following event run by Own It, together with Briffa:

It’s World Intellectual Property Day and, to mark this auspicious event, Own It have teamed up with Briffa Law Firm to get a global view on the ins and outs of trading internationally and how to protect and exploit your work across a huge geographical and business landscape. Aspects of intellectual property that will be discussed at this event include export, manufacturing and licensing, protecting your work, getting the best deal and what to do if your work is copied and is being manufactured and sold abroad. This event will have a special emphasis on manufacturing in China and the new markets and opportunities opening up in the Far East. There will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions. Event: It's a mad mad world - protecting and making money from your IP in an international marketDate: Wednesday 26 April 2006Time: 6.00 to 8.00 pmLocation: West Space, Rootstein Hopkins Space, London College of Fashion, John Princes Street, London W1

Book your place here
More information here
Location map here


IPKat mailing list


New readers might like to know that they can join the IPKat’s mailing list and receive the IPKat’s posts by email each time they’re posted. Just drop the IPKat a line at theipkat@yahoo.co.uk and he’ll sign you up.
SOFTWARE COPYRIGHT; IP EVENT; IPKAT MAILINGS SOFTWARE COPYRIGHT; IP EVENT; IPKAT MAILINGS Reviewed by Anonymous on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 Rating: 5

No comments:

All comments must be moderated by a member of the IPKat team before they appear on the blog. Comments will not be allowed if the contravene the IPKat policy that readers' comments should not be obscene or defamatory; they should not consist of ad hominem attacks on members of the blog team or other comment-posters and they should make a constructive contribution to the discussion of the post on which they purport to comment.

It is also the IPKat policy that comments should not be made completely anonymously, and users should use a consistent name or pseudonym (which should not itself be defamatory or obscene, or that of another real person), either in the "identity" field, or at the beginning of the comment. Current practice is to, however, allow a limited number of comments that contravene this policy, provided that the comment has a high degree of relevance and the comment chain does not become too difficult to follow.

Learn more here: http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/p/want-to-complain.html

Powered by Blogger.