BulletProof Technologies, a Californian software developer, was appointed to design a travel reservation system for easyJet. According to it, easyJets’ original system was faulty.
That original system, OpenRes, was designed by Navitaire of Minnesota, a wholly-owned Accenture subsidiary. Navitaire provided computer reservation software to a number of other low-cost airlines. In May last year, Navitaire sued easyJet and later BulletProof in the English courts, arguing that the new system (eRes) infringed Navitaire's copyright.
According to InfoWorld the complaint alleges that eRes accepted some of the same commands as OpenRes, used similar database fields and used the same “business logic”. Whether “business logic” can be copyrighted has not yet been decided in English courts, but the point has already been decided in the US - or so BulletProof’s lawyers believe.
BulletProof, which has an agreement with easyJet that it can use the reservation software elsewhere, wishes to market the product in the US, but is hampered by the ongoing UK action. It has therefore asked a Federal Court for a definitive ruling that eRes does not violate Navitaires’ US rights, and that BulletProof has the right to sell, distribute and market eRes.