Engineering Dynamics, Inc. v. Structural Software, Inc.Engineering Dynamics, Inc. v. Structural Software, Inc.
Fifteen years ago Engineering Dynamics, Inc. (EDI) successfully defended itself against claims that its computer program infringed registered copyrights held by Synercom Technology, Inc. on Synercom‘s user manuals and input formats. That case held that neither the input formats brought to the court‘s attention nor their sequence and organization were copyrightable. Synercom Technology, Inc. v. University Computing Co., 462 F.Supp. 1003 (N.D. Tex. 1978). EDI has now switched sides and seeks a judgment of copyright infringement against Structural Software, Inc. (SSI), a competitor who copied many of EDI‘s input and output formats. The parties primarily differ over the district
This opinion examines the extent of copyright and trade dress law protection of computer/user interfaces and user manuals. We reverse the district court‘s holding that computer/user interface in the forms of input and output formats are uncopyrightable and reverse and remand to determine whether there was infringement. We affirm the court‘s other rulings.
BACKGROUND
In 1970, Synercom brought to market a computer program called STRAN, designed to solve engineering problems in the field of structural analysis. The program required the user to “input” a large amount of data, including construction details and anticipated environmental and other external forces that would act upon the structure. The computer program performed numerous tedious calculations using accepted engineering principles to generate output which facilitated the design and construction of the structure.
In 1975, EDI entered the market with its computer program, SACS II,1 which utilized precisely the same input formats and input sequence as Synercom‘s STRAN program. Both SACS and STRAN were run only on mainframe computers. Part of EDI‘s
Over the years, EDI refined SACS III and its input formats to accommodate users’ desire for greater speed, flexibility, and ease of operation. After many piecemeal revisions, EDI changed the name of its program to SACS IV. Despite the fact that actual paper keypunch cards are rarely used anymore, EDI has retained the 80-column data input format. Most users now enter data as image files and store the data on a magnetic storage device, e.g., a floppy disk. The 80-column card format is familiar to relevant users of these programs, thus facilitating training and allowing them to reevaluate old data decks. This opinion follows industry practice and uses the terms “input format” and “card” interchangeably.
The SACS IV input formats instruct the user to place specific kinds of information in a specific place on the card. The
EDI‘s structural analysis program is actually a “suite” of 23 semi-autonomous modules, each created to facilitate certain aspects of structural analysis. Each module is designed to interact with other modules of the suite, for example, by preprocessing certain data, then feeding it to another module. One module called SEASTATE generates and calculates the environmental effects on an offshore structure. This is an important module because most EDI customers use SACS for designing offshore structures, such as drilling platforms. Another module called JOINTCAN is used to design the “joint cans” which connect tubular members of a structure, taking into account various stresses, tolerances, and construction techniques. The heart of the SACS
EDI has not copyrighted any of the actual computer programs comprising the SACS suite, i.e., the source code and object code. Instead, it has chosen to protect itself by maintaining the program as an unpublished trade secret via confidentiality contracts with users and other security techniques. It has, however, obtained four copyright registrations covering the user manuals for three of the 23 modules: SACS III, SACS IV, SEASTATE, and JOINTCAN. The SACS suite of programs allegedly specifies over 200 input formats. The four copyrighted user manuals describe 51 formats (excluding nonformatted cards such as header cards and end cards), most of them pertinent to SACS III2 and SEASTATE.
In 1986, Rao Guntur began developing a similar structural analysis program targeted at the offshore platform market that could be used on a personal computer. Guntur‘s company, Structural Software, Inc. (SSI), began marketing his program, StruCAD*3D, that
EDI‘s allegations in the instant case differ in three important respects from Synercom‘s allegations in 1978. First, the decks of computer keypunch cards prepared for use in Synercom‘s program STRAN were completely compatible with SACS II when it was introduced. In the instant case, many individual data cards completed for use in SACS would require some, but not extensive, modification before they could be run in StruCAD. Second, StruCAD requires dozens of input formats completely different from those found in SACS III or SACS IV. Third, while only nine input formats were alleged to have been copied in Synercom, and the copyright registrations on each of the nine were at issue, EDI does not claim protection for any of its individual input formats and output reports. Instead, it contends that the sequence and organization of formats and reports is as a whole copyrightable.
EDI brought suit against SSI and against Guntur in his individual capacity, claiming that they copied 56 of EDI‘s input
Guntur and SSI (hereinafter often jointly referred to as SSI) admit that Guntur copied EDI material when he developed StruCAD. SSI argues, however, that input formats are not copyrightable in the first instance. Moreover, SSI asserts that EDI appropriated many of these formats from Synercom‘s STRAN program and contends that EDI cannot now claim a proprietary interest in something that it copied from Synercom. Appellees raise various other defenses to the other copyright and unfair competition claims that are addressed in the analysis below.
After a four-day bench trial, the district court dismissed EDI‘s claims against Guntur in his individual capacity
This opinion will address the appealed issues in the following order:
- Copyrightability of input/output formats and user interfaces;
- The scope of copyright protection for user interfaces;
- User manual infringement;
- Help-screen infringement;
- Objections to the Special Master‘s report and procedures;
- Rao Guntur‘s liability in his individual capacity;
- Trade dress infringement and unfair competition; and
- Calculation of damages.
EDI has registered copyrights in four user manuals containing detailed verbal descriptions and pictorial representations of input and output formats. EDI contends that SSI and Guntur infringed EDI‘s copyrights by copying a portion of its user manuals -- the input and output formats -- and incorporating them into the StruCAD user manual and into StruCAD‘s user interface. This, EDI maintains, is either direct unlawful copying under
To establish copyright infringement, a plaintiff must prove ownership of a valid copyright and copying of constituent elements of the work that are copyrightable. Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Service Co., 499 U.S. 340, 361, 111 S.Ct. 1282, 1296 (1991). Copyright ownership is shown by proof of originality and copyrightability in the work as a whole and by compliance with applicable statutory formalities.3 Plains Cotton Coop. Ass‘n. v. Goodpasture Computer Serv., Inc., 807 F.2d 1256, 1260 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 821 (1987). Two separate components underlie proof of actionable copying. First is the factual question whether the alleged infringer actually used the copyrighted material to create his own work. Copying as a factual matter typically may be inferred from proof of access to the
On appeal, SSI does not contest the validity of EDI‘s ownership in the four copyrighted user manuals as a whole. Nor is copying as a factual matter disputed; Guntur candidly testified that he used EDI‘s formats when developing StruCAD. Instead, SSI raises several contentions. First, SSI asserts that under this court‘s Plains Cotton decision, which allegedly approved the Synercom district court decision, user input formats are not copyrightable as a matter of law. SSI elaborates upon this argument by pointing out that nine of the formats found uncopyrightable in Synercom are nevertheless alleged by EDI here to be protected. Second, SSI asserts that EDI‘s computer input and output formats represent unoriginal facts and lists of facts that are not copyrightable and thus are not subject to infringement. Third, SSI contends that the SACS IV input and output formats represent an uncopyrightable idea, process or method. EDI
This inquiry represents a subset of the general questions surrounding computer program copyrightability. Some of the issues in this novel and complex area of law are slowly being resolved. Congress has declared that computer programs are in principle entitled to copyright protection.5 That decision largely overcame, though it does not fully answer, one major statutory exception to copyrightability, the “useful article” exception.6 Most courts confronted with the issue have determined that copyright protection extends not only to the literal elements of a program, i.e., its source code and object code,7 but also to its “nonliteral” elements, such as the program architecture, “structure, sequence and organization“, operational modules, and computer-user interface. See, e.g., Computer Assocs. Int‘l, Inc. v. Altai, Inc.,
Until recently, it could be argued that Fifth Circuit precedent precluded recognition of the copyrightability of nonliteral elements of computer programs. This argument was based on the Plains Cotton case, an alleged Fifth Circuit endorsement of the district court decision in Synercom. Synercom, decided before Congress passed the 1980 amendments to the Copyright Act, held that 80-column data cards, developed for an early species of punch-card computers, represented an uncopyrightable process or idea because they could not be divorced from their mode of expression. SSI and the district court interpreted Plains Cotton broadly as adopting Synercom. That Plains Cotton did not actually do so has now been settled by this court in Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. v. Leadership Software
But SSI also makes a more particular argument based on Synercom. Because Synercom declared that particular input formats integral to SACS IV‘s predecessor program (STRAN) were noncopyrightable ideas, SSI contends, the same must be true of those formats descended from STRAN. We disagree. In Synercom, the plaintiff sought copyright protection for individual input formats; here, EDI makes a different claim that several dozen input formats taken together form a copyrightable work, because they represent but one of many ways of expressing a mode of computerized structural analysis. This general point renders Synercom distinguishable.
The holding in Kepner-Tregoe resolves only one level of controversy between the parties, albeit the level on which the district court rested his decision. After Kepner-Tregoe, one must conclude that nonliteral elements of computer programs may be copyrightable in the Fifth Circuit, but not that they are
II. SCOPE OF COPYRIGHT PROTECTION FOR USER INTERFACES
Two qualifications on this discussion must be noted. Because of the factual content of many of these issues, it is expedient to remand to the district court, which conducted a full-scale trial, to reconsider his decision according to the principles about to be explained. The judge‘s interpretation of Synercom, a decision by which he believed he was bound, rendered a close factual analysis unnecessary. Second, this is not a case in which the outer limits of copyright protection for computer-user interface need be explored. The input and output formats for SACS IV are quasi-textual; while they guide the user in performing a series of sophisticated structural analyses, they consist of a series of words and a framework of instructions that act as prompts for the insertion of relevant data. In some computer programs, the user interface may merge almost wholly with the expression, processes, or ideas embodied in the program -- voice-activated or virtual reality programs or those attuned to the human heartbeat furnish some examples that may trouble courts in the future. We do not presume to anticipate the legal consequences of such technological developments.
The analysis below focuses, as did the parties in their briefs, on the copyrightability of EDI‘s input formats. There is no intuitive reason why the analysis should be any different for output formats. Indeed, in some cases it may be difficult to
Generally, we endorse the abstraction-filtration-comparison method of determining copyright protection for computer programs, which has been ably elucidated by the Tenth Circuit in Gates Rubber, 9 F.3d 823, 834 (10th Cir. 1993). The court summarized this method as follows:
First, in order to provide a framework for analysis, we conclude that a court should dissect the program according to its varying levels of generality as provided in the abstractions test. Second, poised with this framework, the court should examine each level of abstraction in order to filter out those elements of the program which are unprotectable. Filtration should eliminate from comparison the unprotectable elements of ideas, processes, facts, public domain information, merger material, scenes a faire material, and other unprotectable elements suggested by the particular facts of the program under examination. Third, the court should then compare the remaining protectable elements with the allegedly infringing program to determine whether the defendants have misappropriated substantial elements of the plaintiff‘s program.
It is unnecessary here to reproduce the Gates Rubber court‘s thoughtful explanations of the various components of this approach. See also discussions in Altai, 982 F.2d at 706-11; 3 Nimmer, § 13.03[F] (advocating much the same test as “successive filtering“). We shall apply that methodology to the parties’ arguments in order to provide guidance and to narrow the issues on
A. Abstraction
The purpose of segmenting a computer program into successive levels of generality is to “help a court separate ideas [and processes] from expression and eliminate from the substantial similarity analysis those portions of the work that are not eligible for copyright protection.” 3 Nimmer, § 13.03[F] at 13-102.17.
Judge Learned Hand first penned the abstraction method to analyze the elements of a literary work to distinguish between protectible expression and abstract unprotectible ideas. Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp., 45 F.2d 119, 121 (2d Cir. 1930), cert.
Abstraction of ideas from expression does not pose a particular conceptual hurdle in this case for three reasons. First, EDI seeks copyright protection not of its entire suite of SACS programs but only of approximately 230 input-output formats that comprise the user interface. The user interface is analytically distinct from other parts of the program. See Ogilvie, supra note 10, 19 Mich. L. Rev. at 542 n. 73. Second, EDI claimed protection of input and output formats not individually but en masse. It is thus unnecessary to decide whether each individual input format card or output format report represents an idea or an expression.
Because of the functional quality of user interface, the abstraction portion of the three-step methodology may pose difficult questions. A user interface may often shade into the “blank form” that epitomizes an uncopyrightable idea, Baker v. Selden, 101 U.S. 99 (1880),11 or it can partake of high expression, like that found in some computerized video games. In the middle of the abstraction spectrum sit user interfaces such as that of Lotus
The scientific, technical character of the SACS IV program distinguishes it in certain respects from the open-ended, user-directed spreadsheet user interface found copyrightable in Lotus I. But on this initial level of abstraction analysis, it is certain that there are numerous ways in which either input or output formats could have been structured in order to achieve the program‘s purpose. Consequently, it is appropriate to proceed further in considering the copyright protection available to EDI for its input formats and output reports.
B. Filtration
The filtration component of the analysis seeks to isolate noncopyrightable elements from each particular level of a program. Copyright protects the expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves, and it does not protect processes, methods or scientific discoveries. Other materials not subject to copyright include facts, information in the public domain, and scenes a faire, i.e., expressions that are standard, stock or common to a particular subject matter or are dictated by external factors. See Gates Rubber, 9 F.3d at 837-38. Each of these limitations upon copyright or defenses against illicit copying follows logically
SSI forcefully advances several of these concepts in defense of the copying it engaged in to produce StruCAD. SSI contends that EDI‘s user interface comprises unoriginal facts, which are not copyrightable. It asserts that the data formats are merely a template that enables an engineer to use his tool, the computer. SSI also denies that EDI‘s “compilation” of input/output formats is copyrightable. Finally, SSI contends that EDI‘s user interface depends so heavily on engineering industry standards and practice that it is unprotectible under the scenes a faire doctrine.
1. Unprotectible Facts versus Original Expression
SSI describes the input/output data formats as “garden variety documentation that merely presents column-by-column formats of input data and describes the information . . . to be stored in each column, pictures, figures or diagrams, which merely elucidate basic engineering and mathematical relationships.” Therefore, according to SSI, the input/output formats fail to satisfy the Feist-Zack Meyer originality test. In Feist, the Supreme Court held that an alphabetically arranged phonebook lacks the creativity and originality necessary to sustain a copyright. In Donald v. Zack Meyer‘s T.V. Sales and Service, 426 F.2d 1027 (5th Cir. 1970) (the Zack Meyer case), this circuit held that boilerplate
As a comparison with the facts of Feist and Zack Meyer makes obvious, SSI‘s argument is simplistic in the present context. Certainly, one may isolate each individual input requirement or series of requirements and contend that it is merely shorthand for a common engineering formula. Likewise, abbreviations for terms, dictated by necessity or industry standard, are uncopyrightable by themselves. What appears on EDI‘s input and output formats, however, are not any kind of formulas or “facts” as such, but organized, descriptive tables for entry of data on which the computer will perform necessary calculations. “Facts” are entered by the user and “factual” algorithms are applied by the computer, but the appearance and expression of the user interface are not themselves a representation of “facts.” SSI does not assert that there is only one way or a limited number of ways in which such tables may be or are usually set forth. Given the complexity of offshore design projects, it is hardly surprising that a number of other competing structural design programs exist in the market, and the trial court found them dissimilar to SACS. As a matter of law, the input formats and output reports do not embody only noncopyrightable “facts.”
2. Input Formats as a Template, Process or Method
Because the input data formats are organized in a particular fashion to effectuate the performance of mathematical calculations, SSI likens them to a template or tool used by the
The difficulty may best be illustrated by comparing this case with those concerning infringement of the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet program. The Lotus program enables a user to create documents adapted to his particular needs in a framework that may be varied and that may utilize different types of information. As the district court held in Lotus I, the command format and sequence structure in an original word processing or computer spreadsheet should be copyrightable because as a whole, the interface‘s structure and hierarchy constitute a high degree of original expression. See Lotus I, 740 F.Supp. at 65-68.
The SACS input cards, in contrast, perform only one, admittedly challenging task: they supply engineering data for offshore structures. The question is whether the utilitarian function of the input formats, which ultimately act like switches in the electrical circuits of the program, outweigh their
3. EDI‘s User Interface as a “Compilation” of “Facts”
SSI analogizes the copyrightability of the SACS input formats and output reports to the copyrightability of compilations as addressed in Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Tel Serv. Co., Inc., 499 U.S. 340, 111 S.Ct. 1282 (1991). That case discarded the “sweat-of-the-brow” doctrine for compilations in favor of an analysis focusing on the originality of the compiler‘s expression. “[C]opyright protects only the elements that owe their origin to the compiler -- the selection, coordination, and arrangements of facts.” 499 U.S. at 359, 111 S.Ct. at 1295. “No matter how original the format, however, the facts themselves do not become original through association. . . . This inevitably means that the
These arguments construe Feist both too broadly and too narrowly. Whether Feist should apply at all to the formats in question here is doubtful. As stated earlier, EDI‘s data cards do not consist of mere “facts,” nor do they portray a “compilation” so much as a progressive demonstration of a particular engineering program. But to the extent that Feist‘s definition of originality applies here, it appears that EDI has selected data and arranged their placement in a way that is unique and original to SACS. See Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Borland Int‘l Inc., 831 F.Supp. 223, 231 (D. Mass. 1993) (Lotus V) (finding command menu interface copyrightable by comparing it to compilation: “The selection, arrangement, and manner of presentation in a compilation may provide the user with a method or systematic manner of accessing the (uncopyrightable) facts. Thus, copyright law protects only that part of a compilation that the reader actually uses for selection of facts
4. User Formats as Dictated by Industry Standard
Based upon the nature of the offshore structural engineering marketplace, SSI contends, EDI had to use the same or similar formats to those it chose in order to provide a compatible, standardized and efficient product for its customers. In other words, scenes a faire dictated EDI‘s choice of input formats and output reports in the same way that the external requirements of the cotton market dictated the program in Plains Cotton, supra, leading to a rejection of copyright protection in that case.12 Although the parties disagree over application of the doctrine in this case, neither side cites any evidence to support its position. On remand, the district court must consider whether or to what
This finding is only the first step, however, for anyone may copy uncopyrightable elements in a copyrighted work. SSI argues that many of EDI‘s cards are unoriginal and thus uncopyrightable. A close examination of the actual input formats is required to determine whether the allegedly infringed cards are copyrightable. Among the allegedly infringed cards, for instance, some may be so generic, e.g., a “header” or an “end” card, that they lack that minimal degree of creativity required for copyright protection. If other cards for which EDI claims copyright protection almost wholly derive from the input formats developed by Synercom many years earlier, they would also lack the requisite originality.14
Filtration has resulted in one area of potential unprotectibility that must be considered on remand, and that relates to the impact of the scenes a faire doctrine. SSI‘s other
C. Comparison
After the district court completes the “filtration” of the user interface as described, it must then decide whether SSI‘s work is substantially similar to the copyrighted works. See n.4 supra. The district court never ruled on many of the factual issues governing substantial similarity because of its view that computer data formats are not copyrightable.
To determine substantial similarity, the court should “focus on whether the defendant copied any aspect of this protected expression.” Altai, 982 F.2d at 710. In this case, it is probably advisable for the court first to determine whether variations in the registered and copyrightable format cards adopted by StruCAD render the cards noninfringing elements of the larger work at the individual card level. Then the court may determine whether the subset of StruCAD cards that are individually substantially similar to their counterparts in SACS, are, taken together, so substantially similar to EDI‘s copyrighted work or a part thereof as to constitute infringement. While a determination of substantial similarity is, in the final analysis, a value judgment that resists the imposition of a rigid analytical framework, this only heightens the need for methodical analysis. The ultimate focus, in accordance with EDI‘s contention, should be on the input formats and output reports taken as a whole.
This relatively narrow scope of copyright protection has been adopted by several courts. In Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Borland Int‘l, Inc., 831 F.Supp. 202, 209 (D. Mass. 1993) (Lotus IV), Judge Keeton referred to the scope of copyright protection as a sliding
III. INFRINGEMENT OF USER MANUALS
The district court found that the StruCAD manual infringed EDI‘s copyright in its user manuals. This finding was based entirely on text, pictures, diagrams, illustrated examples, and flow charts depicted in the manuals, but not the input and output formats. 785 F.Supp. at 583. After these findings were entered, SSI revised its manual, but the parties could not agree as to whether this new manual infringed. The district judge referred the matter to a special master under
EDI argues that the findings of the special master, to the extent they were adopted by the district court, were clearly erroneous. In addition to procedural objections, discussed below, EDI insists that SSI‘s revised manual contains many examples of allegedly infringing material from the old manual which the district court had held to be infringing.
One example EDI emphasizes in particular is SSI‘s repeated use of a table of default values of certain engineering constants admittedly taken from EDI‘s copyrighted manuals. These constants (specifically, drag and mass coefficients for structural members) were allegedly researched and compiled by EDI as part of
If the district court decides on remand that StruCAD‘s input formats infringe EDI‘s formats, the court must then reexamine the StruCAD manual after SSI revises it to avoid infringement. The district judge‘s rulings on other portions of SSI‘s manual seem somewhat contradictory, for EDI offers considerable evidence that SSI‘s revised manual incorporates many of the objectionable features that the district court found infringing in its first opinion. Nevertheless, it is unnecessary to review the revised SSI manual until it has been reconsidered on remand.
IV. INFRINGEMENT RELATING TO HELP SCREENS
The parties did not thoroughly brief this issue on appeal. It is evident, however, that SSI‘s help screens are not substantially similar to EDI‘s copyrighted works. Although in many cases StruCAD‘s help screens convey the same ideas and information as EDI‘s user manuals, there is little verbatim copying of text. Naturally, many of EDI‘s objections to StruCAD‘s help screens are grounded in its objections to StruCAD‘s re-creation of its input formats, to which the help screens usually refer. The final infringement determination relating to the help screens must
V. OBJECTIONS TO SPECIAL MASTER‘S REPORT AND PROCEDURES
Because of the remand, we need not discuss in detail EDI‘s objections to the special master‘s report and procedure. Should the district court decide to refer any questions on remand to a special master under
VI. LIABILITY OF GUNTUR IN HIS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY
EDI claims that the district court erred in dismissing the claims against Rao Guntur in his individual capacity. Although both Guntur and SSI were named as defendants, the district court entered judgment against SSI alone and dismissed the personal claims against Guntur because EDI had presented insufficient justification for “pierc[ing] the corporate veil.” 785 F.Supp. at 585. This holding was erroneous. EDI was not seeking recovery against Guntur in his capacity as the principal owner of SSI, but against Guntur as the individual who first infringed EDI‘s copyright. Guntur was not acting at the direction of another but initiated the copying for direct personal gain. As this court has
VII. TRADE DRESS AND UNFAIR COMPETITION CLAIMS
EDI argues that the district court erred in rejecting EDI‘s claim that SSI violated
The district court‘s rejection of EDI‘s trade dress claim was based on the second stage of the test through its finding that there was no likelihood of confusion between the two programs.16 We find no clear error in the district court‘s holding that there was little likelihood of confusion among the relevant users of the computer programs at issue. Testimony at trial established that both products were targeted at a fairly limited and sophisticated market. Moreover, the printed pages of both parties’ reports clearly identify the vendor as EDI or SSI. No witness testified to an instance of actual confusion between the products. Finally, the Lanham Act is grounded in a belief that competitors should not pass off their products as another‘s. Witnesses testified that SSI explicitly differentiated its product from SACS in its marketing efforts. Furthermore, these programs’ trade dress is largely irrelevant when sophisticated users decide which program to purchase. We have no trouble affirming the district court‘s finding that there was no likelihood of confusion.
VIII. DAMAGES
The final issue is whether the district court erred in awarding EDI $250,000 in damages for copyright infringement. With the following observations, this issue will be revisited on remand. EDI argues that the district court placed too much emphasis on the fact that SSI was first to market, apparently by several months, a program which was designed for a personal computer. EDI asserts that the district court used this factor to reduce EDI‘s damages from the $1.9 million it claimed it lost in profits over the years 1986 to 1990 to only $250,000. We agree that several months delay in bringing a PC version of SACS to market was not sufficient reason to reduce damages from nearly $2 million to $250,000. It is not clear, however, that the district court relied on this factor alone in reducing damages to the extent it did. The district court also cited Fitzgerald Pub. Co. v. Baylor Pub. Co., 807 F.2d 1110, 1118 (2d Cir. 1986), which held that actual damages should reflect the extent to which the market value of the copyrighted work at the time of the infringement has been injured or destroyed by the infringement. The court also indicated at one point that the extent of copying might not justify fully compensating the
CONCLUSION
The district court erred in concluding that EDI‘s input formats and output reports, taken as a whole, may not qualify for copyright protection. We must therefore REVERSE the district court‘s holding that computer/user interfaces in the form of input and output formats are uncopyrightable. We also REVERSE its holding that Guntur is not personally liable. We REMAND to determine whether the existence of industry standards precludes copyright protection and whether there was infringement of the user interfaces. On remand the district court must also reexamine infringement of EDI‘s user manuals and help screens and apportion damages between SSI and Guntur. We AFFIRM the court‘s other rulings.
AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part and REMANDED.