Software developers warned of legal risks

Legal experts are warning IT directors to beware of increasingly frequent problems over patents and copyright when developing software.

Two recent UK lawsuits have highlighted the issues.

Low-cost airline easyJet successfully defended itself in the High Court last week over a long-running dispute with software provider Navitaire concerning the development of its online reservation system.

Navitaire claimed the airline infringed the copyright of its packaged software, which had been used by easyJet before creating its own system. If easyJet had lost the case, its entire system could have been shut down, according to lawyers acting for the company.

This week, US-based supplier CyberSource has also filed a patent infringement lawsuit against UK software provider Retail Decisions over the use of its card fraud screening technology.

Patent attorney Ed Round, a partner at law firm Marks and Clerk, says the problem is going to get worse before it gets better.

'It's a revolution in the software industry. People have not been used to patents standing in their way, but it certainly shows how the law has changed and how software has changed,' he said.

Round says the increasingly litigious nature of the industry means that IT directors should go through a patent checking process when developing new software.

'It's much the same process that manufacturing firms undertake when they develop anything,' he said.

'One would do a patent search to determine whether you would have anything standing in the way of delivering a solution to your particular technical problem.'

The good news is that the process can have its upsides, often by revealing technologies that may help firms create a solution faster than if they had to develop it for themselves.

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