Hi there,
> >>A question about patents. Is putting something on the web enough to
> >>prevent someone patenting it, or could someone download my plug-in and
> >>then patent the algorithm?
(I don't have the original mail anymore...)
> The best thing I can think of is to have a copy of the source code
> notarized and stored in a safe-deposit box. You could mail it to
> yourself, but a notarization is probably stronger legally (because the
> notary can testify).
>
> A copyright registration might not be sufficient since you're not
> required to deposit the full source code for a TX Unpub registration.
> It would provide evidence of prior art, at least; whether it would be
> sufficient, I can't say. Ask a patent lawyer.
I would go for the "Eternal logfile", run by Lutz Donnerhacke.
See http://www.iks-jena.de/mitarb/lutz/logfile/ for more information.
(In short, it's a logfile which is secured by several hash functions
and these hashes are made public once in a while so everything you write
to it cannot be altered later without noticing. So you just submit an MD5
sum of your source to the logfile with a comment stating what it is and
whom it belongs to.)
HTH! Tino.
--
* LINUX - Where do you want to be tomorrow? *