Final Judgment Dismisses SAS Claims on WPS

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The UK High Court hands down it's final judgment in the SAS Institute versus World Programming dispute.

LONDON, United Kingdom, January 25, 2013 - (PressReleasePoint) - The UK High Court today handed down its final judgment on the legal dispute between SAS Institute and World Programming in favour of World Programming. SAS Institute had claimed that the World Programming System (WPS) data analytics software written by World Programming infringed copyright in the SAS System and the SAS manuals.

The court upheld its earlier provisional judgment after seeking advice from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Europe's highest court, regarding the European Software Directive and the Information Society Directive (Info Soc). The High Court concluded that the WPS software does not infringe copyright in the SAS System nor the SAS manuals. In summing up the case, High Court judge the Hon Mr Justice Arnold stated:

"I dismiss all of SAS Institute's claims except for its claim in respect of the WPS Manual".

When the initial provisional High Court judgment was made, the court held that parts of the WPS Manuals infringed copyright in SAS manuals. The WPS manuals in issue were immediately withdrawn by World Programming at the time and will be reissued in due course with deference to the findings of the court.

World Programming are delighted with the outcome. The ruling confirms the legality and legitimacy of the WPS software. Observers of the case will note that this landmark ruling confirms what many have believed to be the case for years: Functionality of computer programs, programming languages and file formats cannot be protected by copyright. Source code and object code of a computer program can be protected by copyright.

About World Programming

World Programming produces WPS Software with users ranging from individuals through to multi-national businesses and organisations. WPS software supports the language of SAS for analytics and data processing on workstations, servers, cloud, grid and mainframe systems. Over many years World Programming has built a highly-rated reputation for reliability, performance, customer service and value for money.

For further information about World Programming and WPS Software please visit: www.teamwpc.co.uk