{"id":1043,"date":"2015-11-03T14:23:36","date_gmt":"2015-11-03T19:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/?p=1043"},"modified":"2015-11-03T14:23:36","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T19:23:36","slug":"the-future-of-digital-intellectual-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2015\/11\/03\/the-future-of-digital-intellectual-property\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Digital Intellectual Property"},"content":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s highly digitized world,<\/span> tens of thousands<\/span><\/a> of new mobile apps, websites, and softwares are released daily. While we enjoy an almost incomprehensible amount of creative and innovative material in the digital space, this proliferation perpetuates questions of the appropriate scope of intellectual property. Regulators and legal minds alike continue to debate how copyright law should apply to computer programs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Lotus v. Borland: A Case Study in Software Copyright<\/span><\/a>,\u201d a Harvard Law School case study by Ben Sobel under supervision of Jonathan Zittrain, discusses this contemporary issue of copyright law and digital property by a deep dive into one of the legal cases that started it all. <\/span>Lotus v. Borland<\/span><\/i> explored uncharted territory, as it was amongst the first cases that raised questions specifically on copyright law as it pertained to the protection of computer programs. The ultimate decision reached in the Lotus v. Borland case colored how the U.S. software industry evolved and continues to affect it. By holding that the menu structure and command names of a computer program were not copyrightable, the case may have contributed to the development of the millions of applications available today.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1990 the personal computing revolution was underway, and early movers in this largely unregulated space stood to gain millions from creating programs that the average user could master. \u00a0Lotus Software, a software company later acquired by IBM, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against competitor Borland International, alleging that Borland\u2019s spreadsheet program used an identical set of menu commands as Lotus\u2019s own spreadsheet program, which held market dominance at the time. The District Court under Judge Robert Keeton initially issued a judgment holding that Borland did, indeed, infringe Lotus\u2019s copyright, and Borland eliminated the contentious user interface from its software.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, faced with an appeal by Borland and the extension of the case to the First Circuit under the United States Court of Appeals, the case moved onto the First Circuit. Here, the First Circuit expressed that Lotus\u2019s menus were not copyrightable because they were essential to the method of operation. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court while media coverage and industry followers eagerly awaited the outcome. The government never took an official position on the case because the different parts remained so divided; the Clinton White House supported Borland while the Copyright Office and the Department of Commerce favored the Lotus side. This case ascertains the different departments\u2019 positions by looking at documents released as part of Elena Kagan\u2019s Supreme Court confirmation hearings, and thereby gives behind-the-scenes insights into the legal process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, the Supreme Court decision ended in a 4-4 tie\u2014which means that it does not create a SCOTUS-level precedent\u2014and the First Circuit\u2019s previous judgement against Lotus stood. Today, almost twenty years later, software copyright remains clouded. Last year, <\/span>Oracle v. Google<\/span><\/i>, in which Oracle sued Google over alleged copyright violations of its user interface, was denied review by the Supreme Court.<\/span><\/p>\n

Studying this case offers readers a practical immersion in legal doctrine, litigation procedure and tactics, policymaking, and business strategy. Students study court and government documents that give insight into the rarely seen debates that shape the official positions on pending litigation. By providing important legal and historical context, this case study challenges students to examine <\/span>Lotus v. Borland<\/span><\/i>\u2019s influence on the contemporary software ecosystem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This case study is based on the syllabus and pedagogy of \u201cAnatomy of a Copyright Case,\u201d a course taught at HLS in Spring 2015 by Henry Gutman, who argued Lotus\u2019s side before the Supreme Court.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s highly digitized world, tens of thousands of new mobile apps, websites, and softwares are released daily. While we enjoy an almost incomprehensible amount of creative and innovative material in the digital space, this proliferation perpetuates questions of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7299,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4CR8M-gP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":946,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2015\/04\/07\/new-teaching-note-legislating-intellectual-property-law-in-the-digital-age\/","url_meta":{"origin":1043,"position":0},"title":"New Teaching Note: Legislating Intellectual Property Law in the Digital Age","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"April 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Product: From Sony to SOPA: The Technology-Content Divide A teaching note is now available for From Sony to SOPA: The Technology-Content Divide, a classic Problem Solving Workshop background note about tensions in intellectual property law. With the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in 2011, the conflict between copyright holders, technology\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/problem-solving-workshop-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Opponents to the Stop Online Piracy Act feared the end of free speech on the Internet.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2015\/04\/R.I.P._Internet-500x500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":740,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2014\/04\/08\/far-east-yardies-in-the-classroom\/","url_meta":{"origin":1043,"position":1},"title":"“Far East Yardies” in the Classroom","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"April 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"the emotional stakes of legal analysis By Saptarishi Bandopadhyay In a sense, the Ching Pow: Far East Yardies!! case study is a prequel to cases in the Langdellian tradition. Where the latter begins with the facts elaborated on in a judicial opinion, Ching Pow speaks to the abundance of conflicts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/problem-solving-workshop-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":874,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2014\/11\/05\/5-questions-with-copyright-advisor-kyle-courtney\/","url_meta":{"origin":1043,"position":2},"title":"5 Questions with Copyright Advisor Kyle Courtney","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"November 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"New Products: What\u2019s Fair about Fair Use? The Battle Over E-Reserves at GSU (A) and (B) Kyle K. Courtney, Harvard University\u2019s Copyright Advisor in the Harvard Library Office for Scholarly Communication, wanted to develop a case study on the contentious institution of fair use at a university. He chose to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Study Program Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Case Study Program Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/case-study-program-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kyle Courtney, Copyright Advisor at Harvard University","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2014\/10\/9.13.13HLSHeadshots515-357x500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":284,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/05\/14\/the-copyright-wars\/","url_meta":{"origin":1043,"position":3},"title":"The Copyright Wars","author":"Lisa Brem","date":"May 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"New Product: From Sony to SOPA: The Technology-Content Divide by Lisa Brem and Elizabeth Moroney When the Stop Online Piracy Act was introduced in the House of Representatives in the fall of 2011, the blogosphere erupted. Tech writers predicted a chilling effect on technology, legal experts feared a lack of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/problem-solving-workshop-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/05\/untitled1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1369,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2018\/03\/01\/fair-use-week-5-questions-with-kyle-courtney\/","url_meta":{"origin":1043,"position":4},"title":"Fair Use Week: 5 Questions with Kyle Courtney","author":"eyook","date":"March 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of Fair Use Week, we are reposting our blog about our case study: How Fair is Fair Use?\u00a0The Battle Over E-Reserves at GSU\u00a0(A)\u00a0and\u00a0(B) Since it was published, this case study has been downloaded 82 times. Kyle K. Courtney, Harvard University\u2019s Copyright Advisor in the Harvard Library Office for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Study Program Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Case Study Program Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/case-study-program-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kyle Courtney, Copyright Advisor at Harvard University","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2014\/10\/9.13.13HLSHeadshots515-357x500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1353,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2018\/03\/06\/spotlight-on-international-and-comparative-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":1043,"position":5},"title":"Spotlight on: International and Comparative Law","author":"eyook","date":"March 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The flow of goods, technology, ideas, capital, and people across borders means that the work of lawyers, whether in private practice or public service, increasingly involves matters in which knowledge of legal systems beyond one\u2019s own can prove important.\" -- from International and Comparative Law Overview, hls.harvard.edu. HLS Case Studies\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2018\/02\/international-space-station-1176518_1920-1024x681.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2018\/02\/international-space-station-1176518_1920-1024x681.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2018\/02\/international-space-station-1176518_1920-1024x681.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7299"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1043"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1044,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions\/1044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}