As a developer and as a qualified personal trainer/sports therapist I would say that all that would be required is a simple disclaimer along the lines of
Do not undertake excercise without consulting with a doctor/physician. Do not undertake exercise without learning the correct technique Incorrect technique during exercise/resistance training could result in injury. This software is for general guidance and the developer will not be liable for any injury caused as a result of improper use of the information given. This with the option for the user to agree or not should be sufficient. When I was actively working as a trainer/sports therapist I did have insurance, but that was more for the therapy side as the likelyhood of injuring someone during deep tissue massage was greater. If your software is going to teach the user "how" to carry out the exercise, then it must do so clearly and obviously properly, if someone sues due to your software and it can de demonstrated that your software demonstrates the exercise properly but the user failed to follow the instructions, I can't see the blame being placed with you. If your software is purely determining the set/rep ranges for different types of training (endurance/hypertrophy/strength) and the types of exercises to carry out but without any guidance on how to perform the exercise the I cannot see you being held liable. Will be interesting to see where Apple get with their patents, this type of software is nothing new and the calculation techniques are nothing new and well known to trainers, also putting the two together is nothing new. But just wait, before we know it Apple will have invented Arnold Schwartzenegger. On May 11, 2009 6:45 PM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: Hey Folks - new guy alert... Several years ago I developed a desktop application for weight training that would estimate how many sets/reps/weight to use given either a legitimate 1 repetition maximum or an estimated one (I included a tool to estimate a 1 rep max from a set of an exercise done for 2 through 20 reps). I copyrighted the code etc etc. I contacted several lawyers about my liability even though I had created an LLC to "shield" my personal assets. Every one of the lawyers said it was easy to get a judge to throw out the LLC shield and that I needed to get product liability insurance. Every one of them stated that I needed it so that if anyone tried to sue b/c they got injured during a workout, the insurance companies lawyers would show up instead of me having to pay one or more by the hour to fight the case. I had multiple connections in the NBA and was given a couple of companies to call that dealt specifically with fitness related insurance. Guess what?...wait for it...NO ONE in the insurance business would even consider giving me an estimate - I tried talking to every contact I was given over a 6 month period...zip, zero, nada deal making, even though I had a M.S. Degree in exercise physiology, was a NCAA Division I Strength and Conditioning Coach, & had a degree in computer science. That was several years ago. A few months ago Apple (yes, Steve Jobs/Woz etc Apple) applied for patents on...wait for it...wait for it...strength training software for the iPhone. Two-thirds of the functionality was identical to what my application did. I'm not suggesting that they stole anything b/c I'm pretty sure they didn't (IBM is working on similar stuff too). My post boils down to this one question (I know, finally right?): How does a developer go about shielding his/herself from litigious revenge from a disgruntled user? I'd love to re-write the app to live in the android environment, but I don't want to do all the work and end up in a legal fight because some meat-head (I can say that, I am a meat head too) drops a plate on his toe and blames my application for it. Please don't say write a good EULA - all 3 lawyers I consulted with said the EULA I had for the app was the best they'd seen, but that a decent lawyer could get past just about any EULA. Help Me Obi Android Kenobi's, your my only hope... --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
