Jack Stone
jack.stone at solidcounsel.com
Tue Sep 11 08:57:05 CDT 2007
Yes, there is a place for copyright, but my only point was that it does not generally provide as broad protection as a patent. And copyright is a lot simpler and less expensive than a patent. Regards, Jack Stone -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Julie Reardon Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 2:58 PM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] Database Patent As far as patents go, I don't' know a thing. However, copyright is an important part of my business. I actually have a copyright attorney who helped me successfully sue a competitor who took some of my code and used it for their own purposes. Copyright is very important when you are in business for yourself. Julie Reardon PRO-SOFT of NY, Inc. 44 Public Square, Suite 5 Watertown, NY 13601 Phone: 315.785.0319 Fax: 315.785.0323 NYS IT Contract#CMT026A NYS Certified Woman-Owned Business www.pro-soft.net -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Charlotte Foust Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 3:47 PM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] Database Patent Since I'm not an attorney, I'll leave the expert opinions to you. However, unless your client is dealing with some database technology other than object-oriented or event-driven, I suspect it isn't new or unique. As for being sold a pup, it was just a phrase. Your previous message made it clear that you had perhaps "inherited a pup" by default rather than buying it. LOL Charlotte Foust -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jack Stone Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 11:40 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] Database Patent Well, after what I said below, I guess I am one of those that say you can copyright code, but as I also said, it is not worth much, and I don't believe I have ever advised a client to do it. I will note too that copyright is limited to protecting expression, and does not extend beyond that to protect method, application, and solutions, at least not in the sense of those words as I understand them. Patents are another story. While I sometimes include code in the detailed description portion of a patent as an example of one way to implement an invention, I don't believe I have ever written a patent so that it was limited to any particular embodiment of code. The subject Weinman patent is a case in point. The purpose of a patent is to protect function (not mere expression, as with a copyright), including any way that a function may be performed, and so the legal metes and bounds of a software patent are typically defined at a high level by flow charts and/or structure, and rarely ever by code, even though code obviously underlies all of it. If it were limited to a particular embodiment of code, then it would indeed be easy to design around, and so not worth much, or overkill as you say. Re being "sold a pup", we never bought it and it was not part of the arragnement (e.g., as a contingency), we were just stuck with it, as can happen in any business when a client defaults in payment and/or goes bankrupt. Jack -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com