Question: Computer Associates (CA) created a job scheduling program called CA-SCHEDULER which sorts, runs, and controls the various tasks given to a computer. This scheduler was

 Computer Associates (CA) created a job scheduling program called CA-SCHEDULER which

Computer Associates (CA) created a job scheduling program called CA-SCHEDULER which sorts, runs, and controls the various tasks given to a computer. This scheduler was designed to be compatible with IBM System 370 computers which ran one of three different operating systems: DOS/VSE, MVS, and VM/CMS. In order to allow the same code to run on the different operating systems, the CA-SCHEDULER included a component called ADAPTER In 1982, Altai established their own job scheduler called ZEKE written for the VSE operating system. In efforts to create a version of ZEKE to run over the MVS operating system, Altai recruited Claude Arney, an employee of Computer Associates, to create the MVS version. Using his knowledge of ADAPTER, Arney created the translator OSCAR 3.4 for Altai in which about 30% of OSCAR's source code was taken directly from CA's ADAPTER code. In 1988, CA discovered Altai's use of the CA ADAPTER code and sued for copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation against Altai. In response, Altai ordered a clean room rewrite of the copied portions of the code to be performed by eight programmers who had no knowledge or involvement with the previous OSCAR code. This new program was released as OSCAR 3.5. CA did not accept Altai's action and claimed that both OSCAR 3.4 and OSCAR 3.5 infringed its copyright. Do you agree with CA? What factors should be considered to assess whether a software has infringed copyright of another software

Step by Step Solution

There are 3 Steps involved in it

1 Expert Approved Answer
Step: 1 Unlock blur-text-image
Question Has Been Solved by an Expert!

Get step-by-step solutions from verified subject matter experts

Step: 2 Unlock
Step: 3 Unlock

Students Have Also Explored These Related Databases Questions!