John Richardson Computers Ltd v Flanders, 1993, FSR 497
Citation:John Richardson Computers Ltd v Flanders, 1993, FSR 497
Rule of thumb:If you can prove that another person has copied the underlying code of your software, but changed how it looks on the surface, can this person be sued for copyright infringement? Yes, with copyright, if the underlying code is the same, then this can still be actionable.
Judgment:
Even where 2 programmes look totally different, where the underlying structure is very similar, this is sufficient to establish copyright infringement. The basic facts of this case were that Flanders had worked for John Richardson Computers and helped to develop a computer programme whereby pharmacists were given alerts on when they needed more stock, and related to their computer which they printed out the prescription on. The Computer company had only done this for certain computers, and Flanders wrote this so that it was compatible for a different computer system – this meant that when the 2 codes were side by side they looked nothing alike, even although they both produced extremely similar effects. The Court held that this was an infringement of copyright, ‘... this means that consideration is not restricted to the text of the code...’ Ferris J
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