Following a jury trial, Real View LLC and its founders were found not liable for copyright infringement, trade dress infringement, or interference with contract for their creation of computer-aided kitchen design software that deliberately mimicked the design of a similar program of 20-20 Technologies. Real View was, however, found liable for copyright infringement for downloading an illegal copy of 20-20's program and was hit for over $1M in damages.
Following trial, Judge Saris took up the question of whether Real View’s other activities (improperly accessing 20-20’s tutorial videos, copying 20-20’s marketing scheme, etc.) violated 93A.
After holding that the 93A claims were not technically preempted as they involved the requisite “extra elements”, Judge Saris found that 20-20 did not have enough evidence to prove a violation of 93A. 20-20's claim that Real View had improperly accessed tutorial videos was not proven and Real View's behavior in marketing its product didn’t rise to the level of “rascality” and caused no harm. Judge Saris concluded:
This case is about Real View's alleged copying, and 20-20 cannot achieve through Chapter 93A what it failed to achieve through its copyright claims.
Real View LLC v. 20-20 Tech., Inc., 07-12157-PBS (D. Mass. June 9, 2011)
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