World Programming Secures High Court Victory Against SAS

London, July 23, 2010 (ots/PRNewswire) - World Programming Ltd (WPL), a
fast-growing UK-based company and a relatively recent entrant to the
world of data management and business analytics software, has today
secured a major legal victory in the High Court against analytics
software giant SAS Institute, heralding the end of SAS Institute's 30
year monopoly in platforms for SAS language applications.

In a legal battle described as 'David v Goliath' by industry
insiders, SAS Institute claimed that WPL's use of the SAS Learning
Edition product when developing its own World Programming System
(WPS) language interpreter software was a breach of terms of use and
infringed its copyright.

In a High Court verdict handed down today, Friday 23 July, Mr
Justice Arnold rejected SAS's claim that WPL's drop in 'clone' of the
SAS System infringes the copyright in the SAS system or the copyright
in SAS's Manuals. In addition, European law protected WPL from breach
of SAS's licence terms where WPL used the SAS Learning Edition to
observe, study and test its programming functions when it developed
WPS. Following previous UK case law and the EU Software Directive,
the judgment reasoned that copyright protects the source code of the
SAS system as a literary work which WPL had not copied and that
replicating the functions of software, however complex and at
whatever level of detail, is not an infringement of copyright.

Customers who have legacy programs written in the SAS Language
will now be able to choose whether to continue with the SAS system or
elect for the far less expensive alternative where WPS software
provides the required functionality.

The only area in this large and complex case where the judgment
went against WPL was that Mr Justice Arnold ruled that the wording of
one of the WPS user manuals was too close to the wording of SAS's
user manuals, although he accepted that WPL's management had policies
in place to avoid this happening. WPL will now withdraw and re-write
that manual in light of the findings in the judgment, but this has no
impact on WPL's customers or on WPL's ability to supply WPS or
support its customers.

Commenting on the judgment, Oliver Robinson of WPL said: "It has
been a long old tussle during which every possible argument and
procedural device have been thrown at us. Thanks to the very
determined support and commitment from our legal team and staff, we
have clearly established the validity of WPS as a legitimate and
lawful alternative to SAS. We are looking forward to competing with
SAS Institute in the expanding market for data analytics and
continuing to offer great value and quality to our loyal and growing
worldwide customer base."

Alexander Carter-Silk, head of IP, Technology and Commercial at
Speechly Bircham, who led the WPL legal defence team, added: "By
expediting this hearing and controlling procedural devices, the
courts have provided WPL with access to justice. The levels of
complexity and arguments developed during the case were
exceptionally challenging but I have no doubt at all that the right
result was achieved."

Thanks to the clarity and depth of the court's reasoning, the UK
now leads Europe in the interpretation of the EU Computer Software
directive. The court will now refer its judgment to the European
Court of Justice for that court to confirm its interpretation of the
directive at European level.

Whilst a judgment of the ECJ may be three years away, the UK
judgment opens the way for WPL to continue innovating and opening new
markets.

Notes to editors

Background to the case

The history of the WPL vs. SAS Institute Case: The SAS Institute
brought the case against WPL in October 2009 and alleged misuse of
the SAS Learning Edition, breach of copyright and other intellectual
property infringements.

WPL applied to the High Court in England for an expedited trail
because it considered the allegations were without merit and that
WPL's business was being damaged by the publicity that the SAS
Institute had made of the claim.

An expedited trail was agreed by the court and the full trial was
heard in London during three weeks in June 2010. Judgment was passed
down on Friday 23rd July 2010.

EU Software Directive: This is a European Union Directive which
seeks to harmonise copyright law across all 27 member states of the
European Union. It was enacted by the Treaty of Rome in 2001. The
Software Directive has been amended recently to implement the WIPO
Copyright Treaty which is an international treaty of some 184 member
countries.

European Court of Justice: The European Court of Justice ('ECJ')
is the highest court of the European Union in matters of European
Union Law. It is not possible to appeal the decisions of national
courts to the ECJ, but rather national courts refer questions of EU
law to the ECJ.

In the WPL vs. SAS Institute case Mr Justice Arnold has expressed
his own conclusions in favour of WPL but he has asked the ECJ to
clarify that his judgment is in line with European Law. This is not
the same as an appeal but is a reference.

European Treaties require the ECJ to ensure the consistent
application of EU law across the EU as a whole in an attempt to avoid
different national courts interpreting and applying law in different
ways.

Whilst the reference process takes time the end product is
consistent application of law across the European Union that now has
27 member states and 22 official languages.

European Law must also harmonize with the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO) treaties, in particular the WIPO
Copyright Treaty ('WCT'). The WCT is an international treaty with
major countries including member states of the European Union and the
United States of America as signatories.

Speechly Bircham: Speechly Bircham is a City law firm with a
strong focus on personal service and building long term relationships
with clients. Over 250 lawyers provide transactional, advisory and
dispute resolution services to three main client markets: business
clients, private clients and clients in the real estate, construction
and engineering sector. Commercial clients include UK and
international listed companies, banks, financial institutions, funds,
professional services organisations, entrepreneurs and privately
owned businesses. The firm's highly regarded private client practice
looks after the interests of private individuals, families and
trusts.

Speechly Bircham Intellectual Property, Technology and
Commercial: Our IP, Technology & Commercial group provides a
360degrees solution advising clients on all aspects of managing,
exploiting, defending, promoting and extending their intangible
assets so as to maximise returns and minimise threats. The group
advises technology suppliers and users, as well as businesses,
entrepreneurs and high net worth individuals, celebrities and
insurers on branding, technology transfer, protection of reputation,
data protection and information security and dispute resolution. Much
of the group's work is international.

For further information about Speechly Bircham please visit:
http://www.speechlys.com

WPL: World Programming Limited produces the WPS Software for use
by a wide range of users from individuals and academics to
multi-national businesses and organisations. Their software supports
the language of SAS for processing data on Workstations, Servers and
Mainfraime systems. Over eight years World Programming has built a
highly-rated reputation for reliability, cost savings and customer
support.

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

SAS: SAS is the largest independent vendor in the business
intelligence market and is used in over 100 countries.

ots Originaltext: Speechly Bircham
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Contact:
CONTACT: For further enquiries, or should you require a version of
thispress release in another language, please contact: Andrew
Pincott, pressoffice, on +44(0)20-7427-6489,
andrew.pincott@speechlys.com; TaliRobinson/Beth Farrer, Spada (PR
agency), on +44(0)20-7269-1430,talirobinson@spada.co.uk or
bethfarrer@spada.co.uk