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What is the Scope and Effect of the Copyright Acts Preemption of a State Law Claim for Theft or Aisapprpriation of Trade Secrets? What Evidence is Insufficient to Avoid Aummary Judgement in Favor of the Defendant?
In 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (“Fifth Circuit”) held that the preemption provision of the federal Copyright Act preempted state law claims based on ideas fixed in tangible media, including the plaintiff’s technical trade secrets. Spear Marketing, Inc. (“SMI”) created cash management software called VaultWorks, which it licensed to BancorpSouth Bank (“Banccorp”) from 2002 to 2012. VaultWorks was developed by SMI to optimize the amount of cash a banking institution needs on hand at its branch and ATM locations. However, SMI’s customers did not have access to the VaultWorks software itself. Instead, SMI customers logged on to internet user interface screens to manually inter data and receive cash management reports.