Discussion:
What is the name of your state? Louisiana
Please help! My case is five years old and is still pending. It started with a non-compete clause in an employment agreement that I signed. That is no longer the focus, but a copyright software program seems to be the hot button at the moment.
My former business partner and I started a competitive business from our fomer employer. Both had not violated our non-compete clause, non the less...a suit was filed against both of us and our company. Part of the former employers claim was that we "stole" software that they had copyrighted.
What really happened is that we approached the same programmer that had written their software and purchased a customized version of the software. He had not had it copyrighted and as we had verified, neither did our former employer.
The copyright that they obtained was effective 2 years AFTER the lawsuit.
It gets even more complicated...
One and one half years after we started our business, we disolved our partnership and she now owns the rights of this business.
I started my own business under a new name. I hired my own programmer to build a database through Access from scratch. Beleive it or not, my former employer is demanding (five years later) to get a copy of my software, which is still not complete in order to prove or dis-prove any similarities. This software is owned by my present company and not the company involved in the pending lawsuit. Nothing is being demanded from my ex-partner who is the actual owner of the company being sued.
Do they have the right to view my software??
Completely Baffled...
Answer:
Since you've already got a lawsuit underway, you have an attorney, right? And what does your attorney say about this?
Answer:
Well, that's another problem. We were in the final stages of negotiating a small settlement and now they have dropped this bomb shell. My current attorney doesn't feel knowledgable enough with copyright law and will probably hire someone else who specializes in this area. I'll meet with him tomorrow.
My dilemma is: Do I spend money on fighting this for the fear of another lawsuit? OR Do I give in and just go with the flow?
The wording is such that any 10 lines of code that would be "similar" to their programming codes could be viewed as a violation. Again, my software is still not finalized (I want it absolutely perfect, and that's taken a very long time) and we have completely started from scratch. BUT, both programs have been built through MS Access and I'm not a lawyer, but I find it very likely that they can find 10 lines of code "similar". I am afraid that this is just a way to paralize me and my business a bit.
Isn't it their burden to prove that I have violated their copyright. Ihave already answered via affadavit that I have not used the prior software EVER with my new business.
Any thoughts...

Answer:
"we have completely started from scratch"
Then you shouldn't have any problems -- if you can prove that you didn't have access to the other's code, then by definition there can be no infringement. If you did have access to the other's code, this will be more difficult to show.
"but I find it very likely that they can find 10 lines of code "similar""
Finding infringement on a software copyright used to be easy, but now it is pretty tough to show. You can't copyright ideas, so just because one program has the same functionality as another does not show infringement. Also, because there are a limited number of ways to code something, similar coding styles -- if they are industry standards, or at least widely used in industry -- are also insufficient to show infringement. Basically, if you want to prove infringement on a software copyright, there has to be things like identical variable names (especially if the names are fanciful or, at least, non-obvious), identical or very similar wording in comments, help files, error messages, etc. (this is what got Avant! nailed when they got sued by Cadence for software copyright infringement). That kind of stuff is what is needed to show infringement of a software copyright.
"The copyright that they obtained was effective 2 years AFTER the lawsuit"
Not exactly correct. A copyright is obtained as soon as a creative work is "fixed in a tangible medium" -- that is, as soon as you write it down. What they did was REGISTER the copyright 2 years later -- this is completely kosher (you can register a copyright at any time after crreation), and it is necessary to register a copyright before you can sue someone for copyright infringement.
Hopefully you've had a chance to talk with the copyright lawyer, and he can give you some more specific ideas based on all of the facts of your case.