SAS $79 Million Win Shielded From UK Ruling by Fourth Circuit
Written March 18, 2020
The Fourth Circuit on March 12, 2020, affirmed a North Carolina District Court’s grant of two complementary injunctions granted to protect SAS Institute Inc.'s $79.1 million copyright infringement win against “collateral attacks” on the judgment in UK court. SAS Inst. Inc. v. World Programming Ltd., 4th Cir., No. 19-1290, 3/12/20.
SAS sued World Programming Ltd. in England and North Carolina for infringing its copyrights and breaching a contract by reverse-engineering SAS software. A jury also found WPL guilty of fraudulent inducement and violating North Carolina’s unfair trade practices act, and awarded SAS $26.4 million in compensatory damages tripled to $79.1 million.
SAS sued to enforce the judgment in the UK but the UK court declined to enforce any part of the judgment, and ruled that WPL could claw back two-thirds of anything it paid.
The Fourth Circuit upheld the district court’s decisions. WPL’s UK actions demonstrated “a lack of respect for American courts and American law,” the court said.