Exxon Corp v Exxon Insurance Consultants International Ltd: CA 1982

Single letter commands used within a computer program, and those with longer names, even if clearly recorded in the source code, are unlikely to be entitled to a copyright.

Judges:

Stephenson LJ

Citations:

[1982] RPC 69, [1982] Ch 119

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

CitedHollinrake v Truswell CA 1894
Davey LJ said: ‘Now, a literary work is intended to afford either information and instruction, or pleasure, in the form of literary enjoyment. The sleeve chart before us gives no information or instruction. It does not add to the stock of human . .

Cited by:

CitedNavitaire Inc v Easyjet Airline Co and Another ChD 30-Jul-2004
The claimant alleged infringement of its copyright in a software system which dealt with airline reservations. It was not said that any code had been copied, but merely that an express requirement of the defendant ordering the system was that it . .
CitedThe Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd and Others v Meltwater Holding Bv and Others ChD 26-Nov-2010
The claimant newspapers complained of the spidering of the web-sites and redistribution of the materials collected by the defendants to its subscribers. The defendants including the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) denied that they . .
CitedThe Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd and Others v Meltwater Holding Bv and Others CA 27-Jul-2011
The defendant companies provided media monitoring services, automatically searching web-sites for terms of interest. The claimant newspapers operated a licensing system through the first claimant permitting the re-use of the content on its members . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Intellectual Property

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.220329