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underlying any of the software in issue; petitioner did not
purchase the right to reproduce such software outside the Norwest
affiliated group.
All mainframe software purchased by petitioner during the
years in issue consisted of computer programs encoded on magnetic
tape (for large applications, on several reels of tape) and was
either shipped or personally delivered by a service
representative to petitioner's mainframe site. Each computer
program was loaded (copied from the magnetic tape) onto the
mainframe computer's own storage medium, known as a “disk pack”.
The computer program would then be tested and modified, as
necessary, over a period of several weeks or months.
Modifications were made, for example, to change the layout of a
screen, to add or revise reports, or to conform the title of a
field to normal usage in petitioner’s business operations.6
After the computer program was installed, petitioner retained the
original tape or an exact copy in case a problem occurred that
required the program to be reloaded onto the mainframe computer.7
Typically, one copy was kept on site for immediate access, and a
6 In some cases, the computer program source code (or a
portion of it) was made available to petitioner to assist in
making the desired modifications and in correcting program
errors. In those instances, however, petitioner was not entitled
to reproduce the source code for use outside the Norwest
affiliated group.
7 Pursuant to the license agreements, petitioner was typically
permitted to make a limited number of backup copies of each
computer program for emergency purposes only.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011