C Tek Software, Inc. v. New York State Business Venture Partnership

127 B.R. 501 (1991)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
C
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

C Tek Software, Inc. v. New York State Business Venture Partnership

United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire
127 B.R. 501 (1991)

KL

Facts

C Tek Software, Inc. (plaintiff) owned software called ClienTrak, which was used by banks and insurance companies to store information and generate correspondence. In 1987, C Tek sold a security interest in ClienTrak’s source code and copyrights from 1983 through 1987 to New York State Business Venture Partnership (NYSBVP) (defendant). In 1988, C Tek entered into a distribution agreement with Intelligent Investment Systems (IIS), giving IIS the right to produce and distribute derivative versions of ClienTrak without limitation. IIS made several improvements to ClienTrak after executing the agreement, including fixing software bugs impeding the program’s functionality, making the interface more user friendly, and improving the software’s importing, reporting, and communications functions. C Tek filed for bankruptcy in 1989 and sued NYSBVP as part of the bankruptcy proceedings to determine the validity of certain liens, including NYSBVP’s interest, if any, in the derivative versions of ClienTrak that IIS created. NYSBVP argued that its security interest in C Tek meant that NYSBVP owned the rights to any derivative works IIS created up until the filing of the bankruptcy action. IIS argued that it owned the copyright for its derivative works.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Yacos, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 815,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Intellectual Property

Key Terms