Re: idea

[Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu]

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 22:26:39 PDT, John Sage <jsage () finchhaven com>  said:

> Thanks indeed for posting your interesting ideas, but I've just now
> beaten you to it, and if you *do* write such a program, my army of
> underworked, avaricious lawyers will sue the cr*p out of you, and
> you'll be working for me for the rest of your life.

Actually, John... it's not as clear as all that.  Since D B had the first *posting*
on it, unless you could show clear proof that your work preceded it, he'd have you.
"just now beaten to it" is actually a very bad phrase to use, because you'd have to
fight the assertion that you stole his idea and developed it first.

In any case, there's three main categories of law that apply here (at least in the US):

Copyright, Patent, and Trade Secret.

Let's look at each in turn:

Copytight law:  Covers an *expression* of an idea.  You can copyright a song melody,
but you can't copyright the concept of songs about washed-up lawyers.  Unless there's
actual code copying or other similar infringement, neither of you would be able to
go after the other for implementing the *idea* of a frequency-shifting file transfer
program, if you implement it independently. Relevant laws are in USC Title 17:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/ (in particular Chapter 1). 

Patent Law: This covers an *idea* rather than a particular expression.  Unfortunately,
there's a "prior art" clause, as Arthur C Clarke found out - he wasn't able to patent
the idea of a geosynchronous communications satellite because he published first.
So unless one of you had *already* applied for a patent before the original
posting, you're both out of luck.

Relevant law is Title 35, in particular Chapter 10. 
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/35/pIIch10.html

Trade Secret:  This basically boils down to "You have a clever idea that gives you a
competitive advantage, and you keep it a secret.  If somebody steals it from you, then
you can sue them to their skivvies".  However, once publicly disclosed, it doesn't have
trade secret status anymore.  So unless one of you is alleging that the other (for example)
hacked into a computer and stole a 0day you were using and *NOT* giving to others,
neither of you has any grounds under trade secret law.

See Title 18, Chaper 90: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/pIch90.html

IANAL, and if the possibility that I've overlooked or botched the summary matters, consult
an actual lawyer.

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