We're the Government, and We're Here to Copy
Government Has Not Waived Its Sovereign Immunity for Claims Arising under the DMCA... the Air Force refused Blueport’s offer to license the software and thereafter modified the program’s object code without permission to allow its personnel to continue using it. Blueport brought several claims for copyright violations, one for copyright infringement and another under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for allegedly circumventing the measures taken by Blueport to prevent unauthorized use of the program.
It sounds like an simple case of infringement…unless the defendant is the U.S. Government.
The Court of Federal Claims dismissed the action and the plaintiff appealed to the Federal Circuit. In Blueport Co., LLC v. United States, No. 2007-5140, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 15787 (Fed. Cir. July 25, 2008), the appeals court held that the Government has not waived sovereign immunity for claims under the DMCA because the statute cannot be fairly interpreted as containing either an express or implied right to recover money damages from the Government. The appeals court affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s claims for lack of jurisdiction, finding that the substantive prohibitions of the DMCA refer to “persons,” not the Government, and that the statute specifically grants jurisdiction over DMCA claims to federal district courts, not the Court of Federal Claims.
More in We're the Government, and We're Here to Copy - Blueport Co. v. United States.
Previously.
It sounds like an simple case of infringement…unless the defendant is the U.S. Government.
The Court of Federal Claims dismissed the action and the plaintiff appealed to the Federal Circuit. In Blueport Co., LLC v. United States, No. 2007-5140, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 15787 (Fed. Cir. July 25, 2008), the appeals court held that the Government has not waived sovereign immunity for claims under the DMCA because the statute cannot be fairly interpreted as containing either an express or implied right to recover money damages from the Government. The appeals court affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s claims for lack of jurisdiction, finding that the substantive prohibitions of the DMCA refer to “persons,” not the Government, and that the statute specifically grants jurisdiction over DMCA claims to federal district courts, not the Court of Federal Claims.
More in We're the Government, and We're Here to Copy - Blueport Co. v. United States.
Previously.