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ARTICLE · 08 DECEMBER 2017

Trebled Damages Means No Injunction For Knock-Off Software

McDermott Will & Emery
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The UK court determined that under the EU Directive on software copyright, SAS's software copyright did not cover aspects of the program that were reproduced and the parties could not contract around the Directive.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Jodi Benassi
Jodi Benassi
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The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded a district court finding that a defendant was liable for breach of a software license agreement and therefore infringed the plaintiff's copyright in the subject software. SAS Institute, Inc. v. World Programming Ltd., Case No. 16-1857 (4th Cir., Oct. 24, 2017) (Wilkinson, J).

SAS sells an integrated system of business software known as the "SAS System," which users operate by writing instructions in a computer programming language known as SAS. Essentially, the SAS System is required to make an SAS program function. WPL, a UK company and competitor of SAS, develops statistical reporting software. WPL purchased several copies of the SAS Learning Edition, a low-cost version of the SAS System marketed as an educational tool to enable students to learn the SAS System, and used the SAS Learning Edition to develop a competing product called World Programming System. The

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