Law Essay Sample: Declaratory Judgment, Counterclaim, Shrink-Wrap License

In the case above, the defendant is Harold L. Bowers who was working as HLB Technology.

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What is a "declaratory judgment"? Why is the Plaintiff asking the court to give a "declaratory judgment?

A declaration judgment refers to a statutory remedy where a party involved in the case law may request the court to determine the rights, obligation, or duties of each of the parties in the civil dispute. A declaration judgment does not necessarily entail the provision of any rewards for the damages. Baystate, the plaintiff, asked for the declaratory judgment as a way to allow the attorney defending him to determine their obligations regarding the lawsuit. When the court decides the fate of the declaratory judgment, it will help the attorneys to evaluate if they ought to continue defending the case, or they are supposed to get satisfied with the court ruling.

What is a "counterclaim"? What is the Defendant's counterclaim?

A counterclaim refers to the situation where one party declares a claim to respond to an underlying claims form another party. In a nutshell, a counterclaim claim occurs when for instance, a plaintiff may initiate a lawsuit and the defendant may respond to the claims by raising their claims against the plaintiff. In such a scenario, a counterclaim refers to the claims raised by the defendant. In case "Bowers V. Baystate", Baystate Technologies, the defendant, raises a counterclaim by asserting that Baystate committed a breach of contract, copyright infringement, and patent infringement.What is reverse-engineering?

Reverse engineering refers to the process through which an object or software as it is in the case scenario is deconstructed to determine the core components, architecture, the design, and the systems sued to construct the software. The aim of reverse engineering is to acquire knowledge concerning the software. Most often, individual utilize reverse engineering of software to acquire the basic skills to construct similar software.

What is a shrink-wrap license?

A shrink-wrap license refers to an end user agreement regarding the consumption of a copyrighted work which is usually enclosed in software wrapped in plastic packaging. The agreement usually entrails non-negotiable terms and conditions of the sale that are pre-drafted where the consumers are required to agree before unpacking the packaged software for use. The terms and conditions can easily be read before opening the software as they are contained in a shrink-wrap packaging. When the consumer opens the package, it is considered that the consumer agrees to the terms and conditions displayed by the copyright owner.

Give a brief summary of the case (1/2 page).

The case presents two competing companies namely; Baystate Technologies Inc. and Bowers HLB Technology. The companies create add-ons that interact with a computer-aided design (CAD). In 1989, Bower created software and integrated other features resulting in the Designer's Toolkit that was marketed and sold using a shrink-wrap license that restricted reverse engineering. Three months later after purchasing a copy of the Designer's Toolkit, Baystate releases the third version of the Draft-Pak software that exhibits features that correspond to that of the Designer's Toolkit. In 1991, Baystate sued Bowers requesting for a declaratory judgment. Bowers files for counterclaims affirming that Baystate committed a breach of contract, copyright infringement, and patent infringement. The jury concludes that Bowers is entitled to damages.

What was the decision in this case?

The District Court of Massachusetts found that Bowers was allowed to damages and was compensated 1,948,869 dollars for copyright infringement, 3,831,025 dollars for breach of contract, and 232,977 dollars for patent infringement.