While there are several ways to legally protect your SaaS software, copyright law is the most popular and maybe the easiest way to protect it. Every SaaS executive needs to know a few things about SaaS software and copyright law. Can you obtain copyright protection for your GUI? This is
On May 9, 2014, the appellate court handed down its 69-page decision in the Oracle v. Google API copyright case. The court ruled in favor of Oracle but pushed some remaining issues back to the lower court. A few takeaways for software and SaaS companies. Thin Slicing. One clear theme
What to Know About the “Combination Exception” to Infringement Indemnities. As a software licensing attorney I run into infringement indemnity issues all the time. These risk-shifting contractual clauses can be confusing for clients, so I’ll explain — with a real case and a graphic — what is called the combination
3 Things You Must Learn From a Survey of 358 Trade Secret Cases A recent Statistical Analysis of Trade Secret Litigation in State Courts (1995-2009) has practical nuggets for every software or SaaS company looking to protect its trade secrets. Q: What is a Trade Secret? A trade secret is
This used to be an easy answer — you owned the leads and had possession of them. These days of LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc., it’s not so simple. 1) Where are Your Sales Leads Stored? Old days: CRM (internal) + Rolodex (internal, portable) Now: CRM (internal), Rolodex (internal, portable), and
What You Should Not Do To Your Competitor (after SAP tried it and got caught). I have been reading the pleadings in the Oracle v. SAP case — the 2010 $1.3 billion judgment case — and put together takeaways for SaaS and software companies on what NOT to do. Background:
I have been tracking Starwood v. Hilton Hotels for its practical lessons on protecting confidential and trade-secret information when employees move to a competitor. The case settled in December 2010. Background: Two top-level Starwood employees who worked on developing the W brand of hotels left for Hilton, allegedly taking with
I am not a patent attorney, but I know when to strategically use them. A recent news story is a great example of when to buy a SaaS patent. You may have heard of Groupon. The angle for you: learn how they are using patents to beat new startups trying
What Does a Software/SaaS Company Need to Know About the Creative Commons License Program? Any software or SaaS executive should learn about this, even if it does not directly affect your software EULA or SaaS contract. It is a big deal in the licensing of copyrighted material. What is the
Reverse Engineering Software for Interoperability — Law Update. This is a hot issue, so whether you have a software EULA or SaaS contract, you may want to learn more about reverse engineering and its legality. Most software and SaaS contracts specifically prohibit users from reverse engineering the software — this
Everything a Software or SaaS Company Needs to Know About Copyrights. Ok, maybe not everything, but as a software copyright attorney I recommend these five posts if you run a software, SaaS, or IT company. First, understand how copyright fits in with other intellectual property: What is Intellectual Property? Second,
4 Great Reasons to Register Your Software for Copyright Protection Most people don’t realize there are 4 great reasons to register your software for copyright protection with the US Copyright Office. I recommend this for every software-based company. 1) EASY. It can be done by yourself or with the help
Can You Obtain Copyright Protection for Your Software’s Graphical User Interface (GUI)? Every Software, SaaS, or Cloud company should think about this issue, even though it is complex. Most software companies know they can obtain copyright protection for their source code — but what about their GUI? It depends. The
Most clients believe they have an airtight software agreement and their liability is limited to the contract value. As a general matter they are right, but there are exceptions. One of the biggest is fraud claims. Fraud Claims. Fraud claims are based on some form of misrepresentation. Under strong legal
While this is a complex legal issue, let me try to simplify it: do I need a software licensing agreement or can I rely on copyright alone? One way to protect IP is via copyright law alone — no contract, and the IP owner relies on federal copyright law to
Get started with a free initial consultation—fill out the form below to connect with our experts today!