Software Intellectual Property Rights Analysis

Complementing BRG’s deep expertise in cybersecurity, forensic analysis, and damages for software cases, the firm’s Software Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Analysis team is adept at identifying software trade secrets. Our professionals have expertise in analyzing trade secret software and/or copyrighted software to determine whether a trade secret may exist, whether a trade secret has been misappropriated or stolen, and whether copyrighted code license has been violated or a contract has been breached.

The team has combined experience in over fifty computer programming languages, has vast experience in source code review and source code comparison, and has more than one hundred years of combined software programming experience. Our experts have testified in numerous depositions, trials, and live arbitrations. They have explained to judges, juries, and arbitrators how source code works, the similarities and dissimilarities between sets of source code, and the potential importance of those similarities and dissimilarities.

Our Services

• Software Trade Secret Analysis
• Software Patent Analysis
• Software Copyright Analysis
• Source Code Comparison
• Source Code Analysis
• Software License Completion Analysis
• Software Trade Secret Factors Determination

Representative Experience

• Two multinational public corporations in a dispute over source code licensing. Reviewed and compared over fifty million lines of source code in several different languages. Opined on the progeny of one set of source code as compared to another.
• Two public corporations—a multinational operating system developer and a multinational original equipment manufacturer —in a dispute over redistribution of allegedly copyrighted software. Reviewed operating system kernel and firmware source code to determine function and open source availability.
• Two large automotive parts manufacturers in a dispute over alleged misappropriation of trade secrets. Reviewed source code and database contents to opine on the level of security and whether the alleged trade secret was readily ascertainable.
• IPR Declaration and testimony in a patent dispute between a large multinational technology company and a non-practicing entity. Opined on state of the search engine industry in the 1990s and how it relates to certain patents.

Many federal districts and other jurisdictions have a three-pronged definition for “trade secret”: It must have value, it must not be readily ascertainable, and the IP owner must take reasonable measures to protect it. We can evaluate an alleged trade secret and opine as to whether it meets the criteria from a technology standpoint.

Often, a technical review of source code and source code metadata is required to help counsel determine:

• Is it a trade secret?
• Was it actually misappropriated/stolen, or is it copyrightable?
• Was the copyright violated, or was a software license fulfilled properly?