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Timestamp: 2019-04-22 08:08:00+00:00

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FindACase | Oracle USA, Inc. v. Rimini Street, Inc.
Oracle USA, Inc. v. Rimini Street, Inc.
Rimini Street, Inc., a Nevada corporation; Seth Ravin, an individual, Defendants-Appellants.
Mark A. Perry (argued) and Jeremy M. Christiansen, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Washington, D.C.; Blaine H. Evanson, Joseph A. Gorman, and Joseph C. Hansen, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Los Angeles, California; for Defendants-Appellants.
Paul D. Clement (argued), Erin E. Murphy, and Matthew D. Rowen, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Washington, D.C.; William A. Isaacson and Karen L. Dunn, Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP, Washington, D.C.; Thomas S. Hixson and John A. Polito, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, San Francisco, California; David B. Salmons, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, Washington, D.C.; for Plaintiffs-Appellees.
Jamie Williams and Aileen Nguyen, San Francisco, California, as and for Amicus Curiae Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Before Susan P. Graber and Michelle T. Friedland, Circuit Judges, and Jeremy D. Fogel, [*] District Judge.
The panel affirmed in part, reversed in part, and vacated in part the district court's judgment after a jury trial in favor of Oracle USA, Inc., on its copyright infringement and California and Nevada state law claims against Rimini Street, Inc., a provider of third-party support for Oracle's enterprise software, and Seth Ravin, Rimini's CEO.
Oracle licenses its software and also sells its licensees maintenance contracts. The maintenance work includes software updates. In order to compete effectively with Oracle's direct maintenance services, Rimini needed to provide software updates to its customers. With Oracle's knowledge, Rimini copied Oracle's copyrighted software in order to provide the updates. Rimini obtained software from Oracle's website with automated downloading tools in direct contravention of the terms of the website.
The panel affirmed the district court's partial summary judgment and partial judgment after trial on Oracle's claims that Rimini infringed its copyright by copying under the license of one customer for work performed for other existing customers or for unknown or future customers, rather than restricting such copying to work for that particular customer. The panel concluded that Rimini's activities were not permissible under the terms of the licenses Oracle granted to its customers. The panel rejected Rimini's argument that holding it accountable for its alleged conduct would condone misuse of Oracle's copyright.
The panel reduced the district court's award of damages by the amount based on Rimini's alleged violation of the CDAFA and NCCL. The panel affirmed the district court's award of prejudgment interest on the copyright claims.
The panel reversed the district court's permanent injunction based on alleged violations of the CDAFA. The panel vacated the district court's permanent injunction based on copyright infringement because the district court assessed the relevant factors by reference to both the copyright and the CDAFA claims, without considering separately the propriety of issuing an injunction as to the copyright claims alone.
The panel reversed the district court's judgment with respect to Ravin's liability for attorneys' fees. As to Rimini, the panel vacated the fee award and remanded for reconsideration in light of Oracle's more limited success at litigation in view of the panel's conclusion that there was no violation of the state computer laws.
The panel reduced the district court's award of taxable costs and affirmed its award of non-taxable costs.
Oracle USA, Inc. and related entities (collectively, "Oracle") licenses its proprietary enterprise software for a substantial one-time payment. Oracle also sells its licensees maintenance contracts for the software that are renewed on an annual basis. The maintenance work includes software updates, which Oracle makes available to purchasers of the contracts through its support website.
Oracle filed suit against Rimini and Rimini's CEO, Seth Ravin ("Ravin"), in the District of Nevada in 2010. After lengthy and sometimes contentious discovery and motion practice, the district court granted partial summary judgment to Oracle on certain aspects of Oracle's copyright infringement claim, and a jury found in favor of Oracle on others after trial. The jury also found against both Rimini and Ravin with respect to Oracle's claims under the California Comprehensive Data Access and Fraud Act ("CDAFA") and the Nevada Computer Crimes Law ("NCCL") (collectively, the "state computer laws"). Based on the jury's determination with respect to the CDAFA claim, the district court entered judgment against Rimini and Ravin under California's Unfair Competition Law ("UCL"). The jury awarded damages in the sum of $50, 027, 000 which, when prejudgment interest, attorneys' fees and costs were added, resulted in a total monetary judgment of $124, 291, 396.82. The district court also issued an extensive permanent injunction. Rimini subsequently filed this timely appeal. The Electronic Frontier Foundation ("EFF") has filed an amicus brief with respect to the state computer law claims.
The first principal dispute in this case is whether Rimini copied Oracle's software in a manner that infringed Oracle's copyright. It is undisputed that Rimini used Oracle's software to develop and test updates for its customers and that the software licenses, with certain restrictions, permitted Oracle's licensees to hire Rimini to perform such work for them. There are numerous subtleties involved but, at the highest level of generality, Rimini's alleged copyright infringement included copying under the license of one customer for work for other existing customers or for unknown or future customers, rather than restricting such copying to work for that particular customer. The second principal dispute is whether Rimini and Ravin violated applicable state laws intended to prevent computer-based fraud by flouting Oracle's restrictions against the use of automated tools to download software from its website. We also consider the appropriateness of the remedies awarded by the district court.
As explained below, we affirm the judgment with respect to the copyright infringement claims. We also affirm the remedies with respect to those claims, except that we vacate the injunction and the award of attorneys' fees and remand for reconsideration in light of this opinion. We modify the district court's award of taxable costs as the parties have agreed. We reverse the judgment with respect to Oracle's claims under the state computer laws and the UCL.
Oracle's Enterprise Software platforms have both an installed database component and an installed application component. The database component provides a foundation for the application software which then uses, stores, and retrieves data in the database for use across an entire organization. Oracle's Enterprise Software application programs- including its PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards, and Siebel-branded products-are run on Oracle's Relational Database Management Software ("Oracle Database") as the database component for the programs.
Oracle USA, Inc. v. Rimini St., Inc., 6 F.Supp.3d 1108, 1113 (D. Nev. 2014) (" Oracle II "). J.D. Edwards, Siebel, and PeopleSoft were acquired by Oracle from other companies, while Oracle developed Database internally.
Because of this history and because of the technical differences among them, the licensing terms of the four products are not identical. We first address J.D. Edwards and Siebel. We next turn to PeopleSoft and, finally, to Database.
Oracle's claims as to the J.D. Edwards and Siebel software were submitted to the jury. Rimini appeals the district court's denial of its motion for judgment as a matter of law following the jury's verdict. "We review de novo the district court's denial of a motion for judgment as a matter of law. A renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law is properly granted only 'if the evidence, construed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, permits only one reasonable conclusion, and that conclusion is contrary to the jury's verdict." Castro v. Cty. of Los Angeles, 833 F.3d 1060, 1066 (9th Cir. 2016) (en banc) (citations omitted) (quoting Pavao v. Pagay, 307 F.3d 915, 918 (9th Cir. 2002)) (internal quotation mark omitted), cert. denied, 137 S.Ct. 831 (2017). "A jury's verdict must be upheld if it is supported by substantial evidence, which is evidence adequate to support the jury's conclusion, even if it is also possible to draw a contrary conclusion." Id. (quoting Pavao, 307 F.3d at 918) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Rimini challenges the jury's finding of copyright infringement with respect to these products on two grounds. First, it argues that its activities were permissible under the terms of the licenses Oracle granted to its customers. Second, it contends that holding it accountable for its alleged conduct would condone copyright misuse. Neither of these arguments is persuasive.
As will be explained in further detail, there is no dispute that, absent an applicable license, Rimini's accused acts violated the exclusive right Oracle enjoys as owner of the software copyright to copy or to modify the software. Rimini asserts as an affirmative defense that its accused acts were expressly licensed.
"Anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner, " that is, anyone who trespasses into his exclusive domain by using or authorizing the use of the copyrighted work in one of the five ways set forth in the statute, "is an infringer of the copyright." Conversely, anyone who is authorized by the copyright owner to use the copyrighted work in a way specified in the statute . . . is not an infringer of the copyright with respect to such use."
Sony Corp. of Am. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417, 433 (1984) (quoting 17 U.S.C. § 501(a)). Thus, "[t]he existence of a license creates an affirmative defense to a claim of copyright infringement." Worldwide Church of God v. Phila. Church of God, Inc., 227 F.3d 1110, 1114 (9th Cir. 2000). However, "[w]hen a licensee exceeds the scope of the license granted by the copyright holder, the licensee is liable for infringement." LGS Architects, Inc. v. Concordia Homes of Nev., 434 F.3d 1150, 1156 (9th Cir. 2006).
As Rimini itself did not have a license to copy or to modify from Oracle, the success of Rimini's affirmative defense turns on whether Rimini's accused acts came within the scope of licenses held by its customers.
Like the language of the licenses themselves, the district court's constructions of the two licenses when instructing the jury were similar.
The district court told the jury that it was permissible for Rimini, as a third-party, to make copies of the Oracle software to support its customers by archiving, backup, and related testing. At the same time, the district court instructed that the licenses "do not mean that a third party like Rimini Street is authorized to make copies of the . . . software application . . . to use the customer's software . . . to support other customers."
Work produced by humans is rarely if ever perfect, and computer software is no exception. Even casual users of computers are familiar with regular software patches and updates intended to correct glitches and to modify software in light of changing circumstances.
However, unlike the off-the-shelf consumer software used by individuals in everyday life, enterprise software employed by large organizations is customized around the organizations' specific needs. While producers of consumer software generally design updates around standard use cases and make them available for end users to download and install directly, updates to enterprise software must be tested and modified to fit with bespoke customizations before being put to actual use.

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