You can copyright text, layouts, etc. This means that if you copyright your
software, then someone can't make something else that is 'strikingly
similar'. They can copy the idea, but not the 'expression' as someone else
put it. It is also illegal to reverse engineer and re-use code, as someone
did to us.
However, even though the law protects you, there are steps you have to take
to gain this protection. That's the catch. You SHOULD write '(C) 1999
Synergy Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.' on all text, manuals, and
about screens for your product. BUT that really only works to prove that
you've copyrighted someone if you want to sue them. Meaning that if you
really think someone has caused you material harm, then you can sue them
and say 'Look, I put a copyright notice on my work and someone stole it.'
You then have to prove material damages and that's what you get. However,
that requires a lengthy trial and lots of lawyer time. It's really not
worth it... Plus, there is some statute of limitations on this notice, I
think you have 1 year from the original publication until the copyright
loses some significance.
The steps you need to take for real protection are to file for a Copyright
with the government. I think it shouldn't cost more than $1000 with legal
fees. Once your work is on file with the US Copyright office, you gain
STATUTORY RIGHTS. That means if someone copies your work, all you have to
do is prove that it is strikingly similar and that the other person had
access to your work (thus implying that he stole it). Then you are awarded
statutory damages very easily and I think it's about $50-$500 per
occurence. It requires some foresight, but that's the way to go. Plus, if
someone copies your stuff, you can quickly get an injuction against them
from the US Copyright office and prevent them from selling it.
The reason I know something about the matter is from my looking into the
theft of MagicText (formerly TextEditHack). Another (nameless) company
released a product that was so strikingly similar that I was incensed at
the thought that my hard work was ripped off. I even did some technical
research and found that the code was most certainly stolen beyond any
reasonable doubt. So I wanted to sue, and I called our lawyers. She then
explained everything to me that I mentioned above, and we decided that it
wasn't worth the cost of pursuing the infringer, esp. since they were in
another country. If we had had a copyright filed, we could have simply gone
to the Dept. of State and Copyright offices and easily gotten an
injunction. Instead, the product is still being sold today!
Hope that helps, (and please, if anyone has any corrections or comments,
please post them. I'm not a lawyer!)
Alan Pinstein
Synergy Solutions, Inc.
http://www.synsolutions.com
1-800-210-5293
>Hello everyone,
>
>I recently decided to write programs for the Palm, and I am new to all this
>world of shareware development. Last december, after working very hard to
>learn the Palm OS programming techniques and nuts and bolds I finished my
>first program "Euro Exchange", and a more advanced version I named
>"CurrencyX".
>
>Very recently I was disheartened to see that someone "cloned" my program,
>copying the concepts and screen designs, releasing it as freeware.
>
>Writing programs for the palm has the main objective of practicing my
>programming skills, and having fun, even because the $5 / $8 for a
>registration would not make me a millionaire, it actually barely covers the
>development costs. However, that does not mean I would like to see my
>programs being cloned like that.
>
>Maybe some of you, more experienced developers and shareware authors could
>give some help with this.
>
>I would appreciate any kind of comments and suggestions.
>
>Thank you,
>Armando Neves.
