After the man had finished the work he had continued to use the employer’s program to be in their own business. The Court of Appeal did not agree with the explanation that the software had been “public domain” – utabn condemn the man for breach of the Copyright Act.
The 51-year-old man was sentenced in Lund District Court for breach of copyright law since he was three and a half years had infringed the company’s copyright-protected computer programs.
The man had in his business has spread and made copies of the company’s so-called random number generator. The man had been employed at the company and also developed the software and denied the offense with reference to the so-called source code would belong to him.
Employers software
The district court, however, came forward that the rights to the software – which he had developed during his employment – had gone to the employer.
Through the investigation, it could also be proved that the 51-year-old had sold its own computer program which had identical source with the company.
The man claimed he had downloaded the source code from a so-called “public domain” and hence that it was “public property”. But that assertion, the Court considered was unlikely because the source code would have been a crucial part of the company’s most important product.
The Court held that in itself proved that the software is classified as “open source” which means that the user may process the source code for own needs but not for commercial purposes. The man has not been right for themselves dispose of the software without the company’s consent.
Copyright Violation
Since man’s notice period had been too short, the District Court considered that his position with the software in late 2009 was not unlawful. But for all the rest of the time he was sentenced for crimes against the copyright law to probation and 70 day fines of 50 kronor.
Claimed agreement in the Court of Appeal
The man appealed to the Court of Appeal for Skåne and Blekinge, but the Court of Appeal is the district court line.
In the Court of Appeal told the man that he was already in 2007 – by a verbal agreement with the company – had been given rights to the computer program. The court think that this framtår as an “obvious afterthought”.
The Court of Appeal also considers that the indication of the source code constituted the public domain conflicts with the information shown in the printed source code – and it seems unlikely that the company would have waived its rights to the software.
Photo: Jessica Gow / TT
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