In a wide ranging opinion, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth
Circuit held that copying unimportant database schema from a
proprietary database did not constitute infringement. The Court
also held that where the technological measure that the defendant
allegedly circumvented did not effectively control access to the
work, there was no Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
violation. Moreover, the Court found error in not treating the
defendant as the sole prevailing party on the copyright and DMCA
claims for purposes of attorneys' fees, notwithstanding
plaintiff's success on other claims. Digital Drilling Data
Systems, LLC v. Petrolink Services, Inc., Case No. 19-20116
(5th Cir. July 2, 2020) (Duncan, J.).
