> I'm joining this thread late, but the first thing that should > be done is verifying that their code really is a rip. You > could pay a lawyer to do that for you, but in my experience > most lawyers won't do that anyway. > The first thing they're going to ask is if you've verified > that your code is stolen. You could save yourself a bunch of > money by checking that first, if it turns out they really did > make their own product, and are just stealing your features page.
It is very unlikely that a lawyer will do this for you. The lawyer may, if necessary, engage a subject matter expert on the topic to serve as an expert witness. This typically entails work by the expert witness to determine the situation before anything is filed, and to serve at deposition and trial if necessary. Very few cases go to trial, in my experience; many don't even make it to a deposition. As for "checking it first", this is something that Bud is probably not qualified to do (even though he wrote the code!) There are a bunch of issues that can come into play - getting access to the source code in question, preserving chain of custody of evidence (this typically entails proving that code existed in a specific form at a specific time), and so on. Computer forensics is a rapidly growing field nowadays. Bud, if you're interested, I have served as an expert witness in similar cases within the court system of the state of Maryland. Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ Fig Leaf Software provides the highest caliber vendor-authorized instruction at our training centers in Washington DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, or on-site at your location. Visit http://training.figleaf.com/ for more information! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:235241 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
