SAS Loses Bid to Revive Software Copyright Case at Fed. Cir. (1)

SAS Institute failed to convince the Federal Circuit that a Texas district court wrongly forced it to identify the protectable elements of software it says World Programming Ltd. infringed.

SAS couldn’t identify those elements of its statistical analysis software after World Programming showed that a substantial portion wasn’t protectable under copyright law, the majority of a US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit panel said. Dissenting, Judge Pauline Newman said the holding “contravenes law and precedent” regarding non-literal elements of computer software.

Judge Jimmie V. Reyna’s majority opinion, issued 15 months after the panel heard oral arguments, held that ...