British Court Issues Bizarre Copyright Ruling

dipfan writes "In a re-run of the Lotus v Borland case that went to the US Supreme Court, the High Court in London has allowed a copyright infringement battle between two rival airline booking programs to go to trial, despite agreement by all sides that the two programs are written in different code. The airline Easyjet is being sued by software house Navitaire, creators of an online booking system called Openres, over Easyjet's booking system named eRes, developed by Bulletproof Technologies of California. Openres was written in Cobol, while eRes was written in Visual Basic, and the programs are also different in structure. But, according to the FT article: 'Parallels had been drawn between appropriating the "functional structure" of a computer system and commandeering the plot of a book, the judge noted.' If Navitaire wins, then any program that works like another program - even if written in different code - could be vulnerable. What happened to the principle that you can't copyright an idea? Bulletproof is counter-suing Navitaire in the district of Utah."

Prosecutor

[Anonymous Coward]

And the prosecutor is a Mr. Black Adder right?

Hey buddy - youre infringing!

[tfcdesign]

Soon you'll beable to sue your neighbor for having two eyes and a nose.

Utah - it figures

[tomhudson]

Bulletproof is counter-suing Navitaire in the district of Utah."

Utah. Again. Wonder if it's near Linton or if McBride is on the board (or if Canopus is). Or maybe something in the water?

Well...

[DeputySpade]

This could put a great new twist on the IE vs Netscape story.

I don't want to be the ass who brings up SCO...

[siskbc]

...but I will. Under this idiotic interpretation, Linux would clearly infringe on Unix simply because it works like it.

Cheerio!

Re:You got sued, yay!

[Frymaster]

remember when apple sued microsoft over the whole "look-n-feel" thing back in (around) 1989? they lost.

they should try again!

Sue sue sue!!!

[Decameron81]

One of these days I'm gonna sue my computer for stealing my life. Who knows? I may get some money out of it.

1. Sue computer
2. Profit!!

Decameron

ideas

[Anonymous Coward]

What happened to the principle that you can't copyright an idea?

I copyrighted it, thankyou. You shall be receiving your bill shortly.

Must be the teeth

[Anonymous Coward]

all that pain clouding the judges' decision. ;-)

In Similar News...

[WJenness]

Ford has filed suit against General Motors for making something that also has four wheels and can transport passengers, by way of an internal combustion engine.

A Ford spokesperson has said: "There will be more lawsuits in the future against other vehicle manufacturers, but we felt like we needed to go after the biggest fish first.

"We realize that this will be met with some hostility, but we are doing this to protect a consumer, we feel that anyone else making such a product is watering down the concept of a 'vehicle' and that having this protected will allow us to continue to innovate.

"Also, we are in talks with SCO to discuss a possible licensing scheme, whereby all owners of non-Ford cars can pay a fee to have their cars properly licensed for Ford's IP."

Re:Copyrighting and Idea

[El]

No, he wouldn't be a) the copyright would have already expired and b) he'd be too busy scratching at the lid of his coffin to go to court.

Re:You got sued, yay!

[ScottSpeaks!]

I fully expect before long for a set of parents to sue their children for copyright infringement, for creating unauthorised "derivative works" based on their DNA.

Should NOT be a civil case!

[osjedi]

This is clearly a criminal case. Bulletproof should be charged in criminal court for using Visual Basic. I don't ever want to hear "airline" and "Visual Basic" in the same sentence.

Do not post to this story.

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a similar story on my web site written in pig latin therefore I will be suing /. for copyright invringement. Anyone posting to this story will have to pay me $699.00.

-Darl McBribe.

Re:Where will it end?

[WTFmonkey]

Louisville Slugger sues Easton over the baseball bat

Please rephrase that, remembering that the majority of /.ers have even held a baseball bat, let alone know who makes 'em. Suggestions: pocket-protector manufacturers, video-game controllers, or keyboards.

And in a related story...

[MarkGriz]

The software company "Navitaire" has announced they are changing their name to "Naivete".
A company spokeperson stated "our new corporate name better reflects our understanding of copyright law."

Re:You got sued, yay!

[frodo from middle ea]

What about all the good ideas they stole from Word perfect and many other software products

No thats embrace and extend, this is a totally differnet thing...:-)

Re:Code choice is irrelevant

[cubicledrone]

If you wrote your own dance song, just because it had 3 stanzas, a bridge, and a chorus, and was in F sharp, that doesn't mean that the authors of every other dance song that had 3 stanzas, a bridge, and was in F sharp could sue you for copyright infringement

True, but they might send you a letter asking nicely that you never write a song in the key of F# again, or failing that, offer large amounts of money for you to never play it on the trombone.

Re:Copyrighting and Idea

[Anonym0us Cow Herd]

Considering that Shakespeare stole heavily from older works I think he best keep his mouth shut.

Your post accurately points out a perfect example of how our modern, enlightened Intellectual Property system prevents thieves, such as Shakespere, from infringing the IP of others' hard work.

:-)

Plotlines

[Kardis314]

This is going to be a disaster for the romance novel industry.

Re:Prosecutor

[pyros]

What tipped you off? Did his aid announce the formulation of a Cunning Plan?

Re:You got sued, yay!

[Anonymous Coward]

Nerds' penises don't nessecarily "penetrate some medium."

Hey, without streamlining, how well do you think a penis would deal with the gap between the thumb and four fingers?

Re:Copyrighting and Idea

[cubiceye]

Everyone knows that Shakespeare stole all his stories from his army of monkeys on typewriters.

One thing about the two programs is the same...

[Jooly Rodney]

...they're both written in awful languages!

LOSE not LOOSE

[Anonymous Coward]

LOSE is spelled L.O.S.E! I am not generally a spelling nazi, but for the love of god why the fuck can't anyone on slashdot spell "lose"?

Hello, world

[Anonymous Coward]

if the guy who wrote the first "Hello, world" were british, he would be a billionaire by now (was it Kernighan, Ritchie, ???)

Re:Copyrighting and Idea

[Bull999999]

Come on, tell the truth. We all know that Shakespeare copied Hamlet out of SCO's System V source code.

Re:Copyrighting and Idea

[Thud457]

Why do you think they have ol' uncle Walt in suspended animation?!!!

Robert J. Forsythe, PhD
WED Cryogenic Research
Annaheim California

Re:You got sued, yay!

[Feztaa]

Respect for IP will decrease from the current high regard that people have for IP (as evidence by the success of Kazaa) to even lower depths.

I pee on IP!

Re:You got sued, yay!

[Sage Gaspar]

Yea, but Newton won his copyright case the good ol' fashioned way. He got all his friends to denounce Leibniz by publishing articles that he wrote through their names, got himself appointed to the head of a mathematical commission, and then blacklisted him, forcing him to die as a pauper. He reputedly laughed at him after the funeral. Terribly nice fellow, though, I heard he made these fabulous cookies...

Re:plural

[gfreeman]

I'm not sure about "octopus" though. Is the plural form "octopuses" or "octopi"? I know I've heard (non-techie) people pluralize it as "octopi" so that plural form must be at least semi-legit.

I think technically it may be octopodes, but I didn't study ancient Greek. The common usage in these here parts is octopuses, but if you don't want to embarrass yourself in the local pet shop when buying two of them then try this:

You: Can I buy an octopus please?
Shopkeeper: Will that be all, sir?
You: Hmm, better give me another to keep it company.

Gr

Commandeering a plot?

[Hittite Creosote]

So you can't copy a plot anymore? Oh well, Hollywood can forget about any British releases of their films.