Editing Copyright misuse (section)

=== ''Lasercomb America, Inc. v Reynolds'' ===
In ''Lasercomb America, Inc. v Reynolds,''<ref>supra note 3 at 975 ("the public policy behind the grant of copyright and patent is essentially the same")</ref> the Fourth Circuit became the first appellate court to uphold a copyright misuse defence as analogous to the patent misuse defence. In this case, Lasercomb had sued Reynolds for making unauthorised copies of its die-making software, which was subject to copyright protection. Reynolds alleged that Lasercomb had misused its copyright by imposing unreasonable non-compete clause that restricted creating a competing product for a period of one hundred years in its standard licensing agreement.<ref>supra note 3 at 973</ref> The Court ruled that although the inclusion of such a provision did not constitute an antitrust violation, it did violate the public policy underlying copyright and rendered Lasercomb’s copyright unenforceable.  The Court also held that the defendant need not be subjected to the purported misuse in order to set up a valid defence as Reynolds had not signed the standard licensing agreement.<ref name="n3979">supra note 3 at 979</ref> Lastly, the Court clarified that Lasercomb was free to initiate a suit for infringement once it has purged itself of the misuse and its copyright was not invalidated.<ref name="n3979"/>