Jenkins-Laporte Doctrine

U.S. federal copyright policy and jurisprudence established under the doctrine of "stare decisis" by the case of NETBULA, LLC v. SYMANTEC CORP., 516 F. Supp.2d 1137 (N.D.Cal. 2007) and related cases. The cases defined the boundaries of property rights and contractual rights in the licensing of digital works. It is so called because the cases were decided by two renowned American judges and leading jurists, former U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins (now a Justice in California Appellate Court) and Magistrate Judge Elizabeth D. Laporte.

The basic principles of the doctrine can be summarized:

(1) If an accused infringer did not see or agree to copy restriction, there was no infringement;

(2) A "one user on one computer" restriction does not limit the scope of a software license, it's an independent contractual covenant;