As reported by my partner, Ron Moscona, according to the recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European
Union (“ECJ”) in SAS
Institute Inc. (“SAS Institute”) v World Programming Ltd (“WPL”),
the defendant did not infringe the claimant’s copyright by effectively reverse
engineering the SAS software and writing a new program closely emulating the
functionality of the SAS software. The decision of the ECJ lays down an
important statement of principles in relation to the extent to which copyright
protects computer programs (but not their functionality) under European Union
law, although in respect of some practical aspects of the matter the Court’s
decision fails to provide useful guidance.
Check out Ron's full article on this case by clicking here.
Thanks, Ron!
