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Usedsoft v Oracle: an intelligible guide for non-IP-lawyers

  • Collyer Bristow LLP
  • -
  • United Kingdom
  • -
  • November 27 2012

The most significant IPIT case since our last edition of IP Matters isUsedSoft GmbH v Oracle International.

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US court rules non-transferable software "can be resold"

  • Shepherd & Wedderburn LLP
  • -
  • United Kingdom, USA
  • -
  • October 29 2009

Whether you are a computer software developer, user or are buying or selling software licences as part of a wider corporate transaction it may be worth taking note of a recent ruling by a US Court that reaches an interesting conclusion on the nature of computer software ownership.

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Recent decision reaffirms software license restrictions

  • Sullivan & Worcester LLP
  • -
  • USA
  • -
  • September 29 2010

For decades, software vendors have allowed customers to obtain and use their computer software programs under contracts known as End User License Agreements ("EULAs").

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Licence to sell Part 2

  • Pitmans LLP
  • -
  • United Kingdom
  • -
  • September 11 2012

In our last update we discussed the issues surrounding re-selling digital licences and the effect that this will have on both software suppliers and licensees.

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Vernor v. Autodesk: software and the first sale doctrine under copyright law

  • Latham & Watkins LLP
  • -
  • USA
  • -
  • November 5 2010

The old adage that "possession is ninth-tenths of the law" may not be true any longer, at least with respect to software.

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Software publishers can prevent resale of bare licences and back-up copies of used software

  • Bird & Bird
  • -
  • Germany
  • -
  • October 27 2009

Three German Courts of Appeal have held that the distribution of used software is only permitted if the copyright holder consents or if the software is distributed in the same physical form (i.e. on the media) in which it was initially put on the market.

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Restricting distribution of copyrighted works: a Ninth Circuit hat trick

  • Latham & Watkins LLP
  • -
  • USA
  • -
  • April 19 2011

Marketplaces such as eBay, vintage bookstores, and GameStop flourish at least partly through resale of secondhand copies of copyrighted works.

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Open source software: the top 10 open source licences

  • Wragge & Co LLP
  • -
  • United Kingdom
  • -
  • January 28 2009

Readers of Computers & Law should be familiar with open source software.

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When is a software license actually a sale? A new district court decision addresses the copyright first sale doctrine and software

  • Wiley Rein LLP
  • -
  • USA
  • -
  • September 5 2008

In Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc., the federal district court in Seattle added a new decision to the mix of software-related first sale doctrine cases.

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Recent cases should make software licensors review their distribution methods and license terms (and they may even make us look at open source licenses in a different way)

  • Andrews Kurth LLP
  • -
  • USA
  • -
  • July 21 2011

Three recent copyright cases from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc., 621 F.3d 1102 (9th Cir. 2010), UMG Recordings Inc. v. Augusto, 628 F.3d 1175 (9th Cir. 2010) and MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., 629 F.3d 928 (9th Cir. 2011), underscore how methods of distribution and license terms can be mutually reinforcing or, alternatively, mutually destructive.

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Can you legally re-sell your digital music files?

  • Duane Morris LLP
  • -
  • USA
  • -
  • January 22 2013

Can you legally resell your second-hand digital files? That's an unusual question not yet directly answered by the courts. U.S. copyright law's first

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