Civil procedure and copyright
Deque loses damages fight in copyright case against BrowserStack
The Fourth Circuit let stand an order keeping Deque Systems from presenting money-related proof after repeated failures to share its damages calculations and supporting evidence. Deque can still pursue its infringement claims, but it has less leverage at trial.
Deque Systems lost a key piece of its copyright case against BrowserStack after the Fourth Circuit upheld a sanction blocking its damages evidence. The infringement claims remain, but Deque now has less leverage at trial.
- The Fourth Circuit kept a sanction in place against Deque Systems.
- Deque can still pursue its copyright claims, but not its damages evidence.
- The case involves two companies that sell accessibility testing software.
- The ruling came from the Eastern District of Virginia and was published June 5, 2026.
- Deque Systems lost a major piece of its copyright fight against BrowserStack after the Fourth Circuit upheld a sanction that kept Deque from presenting damages evidence
Deque Systems lost a major piece of its copyright fight against BrowserStack after the Fourth Circuit upheld a sanction that kept Deque from presenting damages evidence. The companies compete in accessibility testing software, and Deque had accused BrowserStack of copyright infringement. But the district court barred Deque’s damages proof after it repeatedly failed to disclose its damages calculations and the evidence supporting them, and the published appellate ruling leaves Deque without that leverage in front of a jury.
Where the case lost its punch
In federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, the fight was never just about whether BrowserStack copied protected material. It was also about what Deque could prove it lost, because damages often shape how much pressure a defendant feels before trial and how a jury hears the case.
The dispute matters beyond these two companies because software businesses live and die on technical records, disclosure obligations and the ability to support a dollar figure with something more than a guess. When that proof is missing, the claim can still survive on paper, but it loses much of its force.
The sanction that stayed in place
On June 5, 2026, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s sanction in a published opinion. Judge Agee wrote the decision, joined by Senior Judges Traxler and Floyd. The panel left in place the order excluding Deque’s damages evidence, which means the company cannot present that side of the case at trial.
That does not end the copyright dispute, but it sharply narrows what Deque can ask the jury to do. For litigants in competitive intellectual-property battles, the message is blunt: damages proof is not a formality, and losing it can leave a case far harder to win or settle on favorable terms.