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Grex Info Item 250: Software idea.
Entered by mcpoz on Sat Aug 19 03:34:44 UTC 1995:

I have an idea for commercial software which is really unique.  I have written
a BASIC program and created a program which is crude but does the job.  

My question is:  How does one protect a programming idea?  Is it patented or
copywrited?  If so, how does one get started?

Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks

3 responses total.

#1 of 3 by srw on Sat Aug 19 15:20:14 1995:

There are three protection methods commonly used. They are
(1) Trade secret
(2) Copyright (note spelling)
(3) Patent

These protect different things and they protect them in different ways
for different amounts of time. Also they are quite different in the amount
of effort required, and conditions that must be met. I can't give you a 
complete rundown on all the variables, but I'll try to give a short summary.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and not guaranteed to know what I am 
   talking about. Use this advice with caution. 

(1) trade secrets must be kept from publication. They must be guarded
  actively. Thus if you are going to make your program available in source
  form, it cannot be a trade secret. If you are only making your program
  available in executable form, the source code can be a trade secret.
  Some of this has not been tested in the courts. You can go to court
  to protect a trade secret, if it has been wrested from you against your
  will.
(2) Copyright applies to anything you originated, and copyrighted things  
  may be published. Others may not copy them, transcribe them, or otherwise
  create works derived from them (except under the fair use clause)
  without your permission. If someone likes how your program works and
  writes his own to duplicate its function, then copyright will probably
  not protect you in that case.
(3) Patents are much harder to obtain. You must show that your program
  embodies a new technique, or algorithm, to perform a useful function.
  You must show that your algorithm is not a simple modification of any
  existing algorithm, but rather is a totally novel one. The application
  process is long and complicated, and the patent, if granted, will 
  protect only your algorithm, not your whole program. But the protection
  is stronger. No one can legally use that algorithm, even if they thought
  it up themselves independently and wrote the program without knowing,
  unless they have your permission.

I think copyright is the best approach for protecting software.
I personally abhor software patents, and work for the abolishment of them,
but one must recognize their validity until then. The Lempel-Ziv compression
algorithm is patented, and so are some of the algorithms used in PGP.

#2 of 3 by rcurl on Sat Aug 19 17:21:39 1995:

Works are inherently copyrighted upon publication, and it requires no
action on the author's part. However the copyright can only bve enforced
if it is registered. Even if copyrighted, its function can be
duplicated (as Steve says), but in addition, any part of it already
in the public domain cannot be copyrighted. None of the commands, for
example; probably few of the algorithms. That may not leave much -
just the statement of the code that carries out the final purpose. If
that can be written in a different way, then the copyright is broken.
I think the result can be copyrighted, however - that is, the screen
image that is produced by the code. If that becomes popular, it can be
a more important copyright than the code.

An enormous number of authors of software only go as far as issuing
their work as shareware. It is inexpensive enough to deter persons from
writing their own code to do that same thing, but can be popular enough
to earn a significant income. I think that to write and market something
more elaborate and protect it, requires lots of organization, lawyers,
etc. Consider LOYUS 123: it didn't appear as shareware first - it was
developed, packaged, and copyrighted, before any hint of it appeared on
the market (if I recall correctly...).

#3 of 3 by mdw on Sun Dec 3 11:35:41 1995:

The idea that works are "inherently copyrighted" is new.  Formerly, it
was the case that you had to have the statement "Copyright YEAR
ORGANIZATION" in order to secure that protection.  In international law,
you also need to say "All rights reserved."  It's still best to do this;
it can't hurt, and could help.

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