Copyright Issues: SaaS Software.
Copyright is the most popular and easiest way to legally protect your SaaS software, but it only covers part of what matters.
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- [email protected]
Copyright is the most popular and easiest way to legally protect your SaaS software, but it only covers part of what matters.
Short answer: the Oracle v. Google API case told software companies that APIs and even functional code can be copyrightable, that these disputes are intensely fact-specific, and that proving copyrightability is far easier than proving infringement. On May 9, 2014, the appellate court handed down its 69-page decision in the
Short answer: your software infringement indemnity should cover only your software, not your software combined with the customer’s or a third party’s technology. In AFLAC v. Intervoice, the vendor owed no indemnity because the infringement claim arose from that combination. This is what to know about the “combination exception” to
What a study of 358 state trade secret cases shows about who takes your secrets, what they take, and the reasonable measures that keep the law on your side.
Your sales leads should belong to the company, but social media has blurred the line.
Short answer: the Oracle v. SAP case (a $1.3 billion jury verdict, later reduced to about $356.7 million) is a list of what not to do to a competitor: do not download more of their software than you are licensed for, do not ignore the terms of use on their
Short answer: when an employee leaves for a competitor, your ability to stop them from using what they know comes down almost entirely to what you did beforehand: marking and restricting your confidential information, running exit interviews, and using confidentiality agreements. Starwood v. Hilton shows the payoff of protecting trade
Short answer: a software or SaaS company should consider buying a patent, not just filing one, when its business model is easy to copy and it faces real execution risk. A purchased patent can be a defensive moat against fast-following competitors, and it gets you coverage faster than a filing
Creative Commons is a free, standardized way to license copyrighted content from “All Rights Reserved” to “Some Rights Reserved,” and as a software company you should use it for your blog and marketing, never for your software or your documentation.
Copyright law does not stop your customers from reverse engineering your software, your contract has to, and even then courts have carved out fair-use exceptions for interoperability.
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,
Registering your software with the U.S. Copyright Office is cheap and easy, and it unlocks two things you cannot get otherwise: your attorney’s fees and statutory damages.
Yes, you can sometimes get copyright protection for your software’s graphical user interface, but only for the original, artistic expression in it, not the functional layout.
Short answer: mostly yes. A well-drafted limitation of liability caps your exposure near the contract value. The big exception is a fraud claim, which plaintiffs use to jump the cap. You manage that risk with anti-reliance drafting and by handling customer problems early. Most clients believe they have an airtight
Short answer: copyright protects your software automatically, but a license agreement (a contract) lets you define and limit exactly how the customer may use it. Smart software companies rely on the right mix of both, not one alone. While this is a complex legal issue, let me try to simplify
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