Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

Software company Autodesk can stop a man from re-selling second-hand copies of its software because the programs are licensed to users, not owned by them, a US appeals court has ruled.

Software producers who clearly impose restrictions on buyers and make it clear that buyers are only licensing material rather than buying it outright do have the right to restrict second hand sales of the material, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has said.

Autodesk is involved in a long-running legal dispute with Timothy Vernor, who sells goods on auction site eBay. He bought second hand versions of Autodesk's architectural drawing software from a company and made them available for sale on eBay, but Autodesk made repeated claims that this infringed its copyright.

Vernor's eBay account was eventually suspended, leading him to take a case to the courts, asking a judge to declare his activity lawful.

A US District Court agreed with Vernor, saying that a previous case involving film prints lent to actress Vanessa Redgrave, the Wise case, set a precedent that transferred material could be owned by the person to whom it was given.

The Court of Appeals disagreed, and said that the Wise case did not mean, as the lower court had said, that any agreement which allows a person to keep a copy of copyrighted material was a sale rather than a transfer of a licence.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

The Supreme Court has turned down Microsoft Corp.'s appeal of a jury verdict that it infringed on another company's patent.

The justices said Monday they will not intervene in Microsoft's legal fight with Alcatel-Lucent. The disputed patent covers a method of entering information into fields on a computer screen without using a keyboard. Alcatel-Lucent says Microsoft's Outlook calendar and other programs illegally used this technology.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit already has ordered the trial court to reconsider the $358 million in damages the jury awarded to Alcatel-Lucent.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

Microsoft Corp., the world’s biggest software maker, agreed to pay VirnetX Holding Corp. $200 million and license technology to communicate privately over the Internet, ending a patent dispute.

“We believe that this successful resolution of our litigation with Microsoft will allow us to focus on the upcoming pilot system” for a virtual private network, Chief Executive Officer Kendall Larsen said yesterday in a statement.

VirnetX, which won a $105.8 million jury verdict in its patent-infringement lawsuit in March, was seeking a court order to block Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft from continuing to use the technology in its Windows operating system and Communications Server. The jury award also could have been tripled by the court’s judge.

Microsoft argued at trial that the patents were valued at no more than $15 million. Investors bet the patents were worth more, driving Scotts Valley, California-based VirnetX’s share price up almost 300 percent in the past 12 months. VirnetX had a market value of $267.9 million, based on the May 14 price.

VirnetX had been public in its desire to be bought to resolve the dispute. The agreement in which it obtained the patents from defense contractor SAIC Inc. included a provision that SAIC would get 10 percent of any proceeds if VirnetX were acquired by Microsoft, according to a company regulatory filing.

The patents relate to use of a domain-name service to set up virtual private networks, through which a website owner can interact with a customer in a secure way or an employee can work at home and access a company’s files. The technology stemmed from work performed for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to develop secure communications, VirnetX said.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

File-sharing software company LimeWire has lost a long-running court battle to the major recording companies.

A judge with the U.S. District Court in New York ruled this week that the company and its chairman, Mark Gorton, were liable for inducing copyright infringement.

The decision in the case, which began in 2006, doesn't mean the site will shut down right away. The record labels and LimeWire are to meet with Judge Kimba Wood on June 1 to determine the next steps, such as a possible deal to work together going forward and a potential award for damages.

Recording Industry Association of America Chairman Mitch Bainwol said in a statement Wednesday that the ruling was "an extraordinary victory" against one of the largest remaining file-sharing services in the United States.

The RIAA said more than 200 million copies of LimeWire's file-sharing software have been downloaded so far, including 340,000 in the last week alone.

The ruling could pave the way for a deal, similar to the way Napster was sued out of existence in 2000 but was reborn and is now under the ownership of Best Buy Inc. with licensing deals with all the major recording companies.

"This isn't about getting something shut down, it's about getting something licensed and legal," said Steve Marks, general counsel for the RIAA.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

Attorneys from top Atlanta law firms announced this week the formation of a new law firm, focused exclusively on intellectual property law. McKeon, Meunier, Carlin & Curfman, LLC launched in Atlanta on Monday, April 19, 2010. The new firm will provide patent prosecution, IP transaction and trademark services along with intellectual property strategy and management services. The firm will focus heavily on the life sciences sector, drawing on the Principals' strong legal and technical backgrounds in biotechnology, chemistry, pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

The four founding principals include Tina McKeon, Ph.D. and Andrew "Drew" Meunier from the Atlanta office of Fish & Richardson, an international IP law firm. Christopher Curfman, Ph.D. joins from Ballard Spahr's Atlanta office and Gregory Carlin joins McKeon Meunier from his role as Intellectual Property Counsel with Edwards Lifesciences, a medical device maker in Southern California. Carlin was previously affiliated with Alston & Bird, an Atlanta-based law firm.

Also joining from Fish & Richardson are Miles Hall, D.V.M., who will be an Associate Attorney; Andrew Baraniak, Ph.D. and Kimberlynn Becnel Davis, Ph.D. join as Patent Agents.

"I am pleased to be stepping into a small firm with such an elite team. We have had a great response so far from clients who seem eager for an alternative to big-firm IP law but who still want and need quality legal work," said Dr. Tina McKeon. "Our new firm gives us the flexibility to be very client-centric. I think our timing, focus, and flexibility offer a welcome change," added Drew Meunier.

McKeon Meunier has leased 8,000 square feet of Class A office space in the Historic Biltmore Hotel in Midtown Atlanta, located at 817 W. Peachtree Street. The firm has also launched a website with more information about the firm and its professional staff at www.m2IPlaw.com.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.