A recent ruling by the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals has brought up interesting questions about when it is okay to circumvent Digital Rights Management software.  In the ruling, the Court stated that “”Without showing a link between ‘access’ and ‘protection’ of the copyrighted work, the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision does not apply.”  However, the question of what exactly is a fair use to circumvent the DRM is still in question.

In this particular case, the company in question bypassed the use of a dongle to access the software necessary to use a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply).  Because the software could be accessed once the dongle was used and read by anyone, the Court found that this was not a violation of the DMCA.

Although this case is in the 5^th Circuit and Denver is in the 10^th Circuit, this ruling may have an impact on Denver small businesses that provide or use software that is protected by DRM software.  If you are a software company that uses DRM software to protect your intellectual property, call to schedule a consult with your Denver Small Business Attorney Elizabeth Lewis today!