• INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Apple Inc. Vs. Psystar Corporation, (Decided on 28.09.2011)

Copyright -Infringement - "Copyright misuse" raised as defence - Plaintiff has brought an action against defendant for copyright infringement alleging that they were using Plaintiff's software on their computers - Copyright misuse defense raised Defendant asserting unenforceability of plaintiff's Software License Agreement rejected by the District Court - Whether the district court erred when it rejected Defendant's defense of copyright misuse

Held, software is "licensed, not sold, to the the defendant for use only under the terms of this License." - Software License Agreement provides that plaintiff retains ownership of the plaintiff's Software itself and imposes significant use and transfer restrictions, providing, inter alia, that a licensee may only run one copy and "may not rent, lease, lend, redistribute or sublicense the plaintiff's Software - Accordingly, Defendant falsely assumes that Apple transferred ownership of the software in dispute - District court's order stands affirmed.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (Decided on 17.09.2011)

Andrea P. Sherman; Richard G.Sherman, Debtors Richard G. Sherman Vs. Securities and Exchange Commission

Discharge of debt - Whether exception to discharge in § 523(a)(19) applies when debtor himself is not culpable for securities violation that caused the debt - Bankruptcy Court held that debt was subject to discharge - However, District Court held that debt was excepted in discharge in bankruptcy

Held, 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(19) prevents the discharge of debts for securities-related wrongdoings only in cases where the debtor is responsible for that wrongdoing. Debtors who may have received funds derived from a securities violation remain entitled to a complete discharge of any resulting disgorgement order.