Canon of Important Software IP Cases?

A not-so anonymous Anonymous Coward asks: "I'm interested in knowing some of the most significant cases that have influenced the field of software intellectual property law. As someone who is interested in pursuing patent law as a career, I'm interested in reading some of the 'big' cases to get a better idea of what issues and situations motivate and drive patent lawyers."

Comments

Don't be mislead

[CaptainStormfield]

You are certainly going down the right path in thinking about the "big picture" of the legal field in which you want to practice. However, I'd offer to caveats/suggestions:

(1) Don't be mislead into thinking that your practice will usually involve issues of the magnitude of those in the "leading" cases. Those cases are leading cases becuase they are unusual, and because they are watershed cases that totally rearranged the legal landscape. Most litigation practice involves filling in the minute gaps left open by the big cases, if you're lucky enough to deal with big cases at all. For better or worse (probably worse) day-to-day legal practice is about details, not the big picture.

(2) You might consider taking a look at a general intellecutual property casebook (one prepared for law students). Obviously, there are many "general" IP cases that are very important in the software domain. (My copyright text, for instance, contained many software copyright cases). I'm sure that there are casebooks for Software IP too. These are a great place to start. They don't assume much background, and the cases are often condensed to include only the important bits.

IAAL (though not a Software IP lawyer).