Intellectual propertylaw

Your law firm has asked you to review the following intellectual property law case and

the relevant documents in preparation for a meeting with the other party's lawyer.

Read this description of the facts of the case. What are the legal issues here?

Fleming Co. ('Fleming') was a company responsible for assisting new immigrants entering the State of

Bloomland. One of its responsibilities was to report certain information, such as dates of arrival and

departure. In order to carry this out, Fleming contracted with Linxus Co. ('Linxus'), a software development

company, to develop a system that would provide Fleming with access to a database over the Internet. In

developing the software, Linxus used some software codes that it had previously designed and used to

support website-based databases for other companies.

The contract between Fleming and Linxus to develop this software did not contain any express provision

regarding ownership of copyright in the new database. When Fleming attempted to sub-license the

software to another company, Linxus objected, and a dispute arose regarding what copyright rights Fleming

had in the software, if any. Although not expressly written in the contract, Fleming argued that a term

should be implied whereby Linxus assigns the copyright to Fleming, thereby granting Fleming the ability to

sub-license the software to third parties.

Task 1: Speaking

Divide into two groups, with one group representing Fleming and one group

representing Linxus.

1 Prepare for negotiations with the other party. You should:

U identify the legal issues of the case and determine arguments for your side;

0 list the strengths and weaknesses of your side of the case;

u decide which parts of the relevant legal documents most strongly support

your case and can be used to argue against the other party's case;

v make notes for the negotiation: What are your goals? What are you willing to

give? What are you not willing to give?

2 Pair up with a representative of the other party and attempt to negotiate a

settlement.

3 Report the results of your negotiations to the class.

Task2: Writing

1 Rewrite the contract between Fleming and Linxus with your partner from the

other side in order to incorporate your negotiated outcome.

2 Write a letter of advice to one of the parties (your choice), in which you outline

the legal issues raised by the case, refer to relevant statutes or related cases

and provide your opinion as to the likely outcome of the case.

e

Text1:excerptsfromthe contractbetweenFlemingandLinxus

an Internet-based

Software for the purposes

it for the purposes of

and procedures

to keep all such

regarding the

of the information on

the development of the

Text 2: CopyrightsAct of Bloomland, sections 11and 91

11 (1) The author of a work is the first owner of any copyright in it, subject to the following provisions.

(2) Where a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is made by an employee in the course of his

employment, his employer is the first owner of any copyright in the work subject to any agreement to

the contrary.

91(1) Where by an agreement made in relation to future copyright, and signed by or on behalf of the

prospective owner of the copyright, the prospective owner purports to assign the future copyright

(wholly or partially) to another person, then if, on the copyright coming into existence, the assigneeor

another person claiming under him would be entitled as against all other persons to require the

copyright to be vested in him, the copyright shall vest in the assignee or his successor in title by virtue

of this subsection.

(2) In this Part, "future copyright" means copyright which will or may come into existence in respect of a

future work or class of works or on the occurrence of a future event; and "prospective owner" shall be

construed accordingly, and includes a person who is prospectively entitled to copyright by virtue of

such an agreement as is mentioned in subsection (1).

Text 3: excerpt from a case brief in the State of Bloomland

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 2020