[JURIST] Software developer Bitmanagement Software GmbH has filed [complaint, PDF] a lawsuit against the United States Navy [official website] in the United States Court of Federal Claims [official website]. In its complaint, the German software company claims the Navy infringed copyrights owned by Bitmanagement Software GmbH, in particular through copying and installing the company’s three-dimensional virtual reality software – BS Contact Geo- onto “hundreds of thousands of computers for which the Navy does not have a license,” to aid in flight simulator training. The company had agreed to allow the Navy to use their software on a trial basis, limiting the number of installations of the program to 38 computers, and, at the Navy’s request, the company removed its control mechanism for tracking and limiting the software’s use so as to “facilitate such testing and integration of the software on Navy computers in preparation for the large scale licensing.” The company contends the “Flexwrap” program, which would have tracked the Navy’s use and duplication of the program on Navy computers, was removed by the Navy. According to the complaint, during later negotiations between the company and the Navy, and without the company’s consent, the Navy installed BS Contact Geo onto hundreds of thousands of computers, infringing upon US copyright law [materials]. Bitmanagement Software GmbH seeks “an amount not less than $596,308,103.”

Intellectual property rights remain to be a significant issue throughout the world. Last month the Beijing Intellectual Property Bureau ordered [JURIST report] Apple to stop sale of the Iphone 6 and Iphone 6 Plus for violating a Chinese company’s patent on exterior design. In May a US jury concluded that Google had not violated copyright laws [JURIST report] where it used another companies programming language to develop its Android operating system. Earlier that same month the United States Supreme Court [official website] granted certiorari [JURIST report] to hear a copyright case which would further elucidate when the feature of a useful article is protectable under a section of the Copyright Act.