Gregory Aharonian has struck again. A well-known IP consultant and author of a widely read newsletter on patents, “PatNews,” Aharonian has been attacking the legitimacy of many software and business-method patents for years. Now this IP gadfly is taking aim at copyrights.
On Dec. 7, 2004, Aharonian, who is developing a proprietary database program, filed a declaratory judgment action asking the San Francisco federal court to declare software copyrights unconstitutional. He believes it’s difficult, if not impossible, to determine which aspects of a software program a copyright protects, pointing out that he could be prosecuted for criminal copyright infringement for building his database program.
