Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!agate!dog.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!crash!pnet01!pro-sol.cts.com!stuart1
From: stuart1@pro-sol.cts.com (Stuart Schechter)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Publishing Software
Message-ID: <1991May28.105610.29170@crash.cts.com>
Date: 28 May 91 10:56:10 GMT
Sender: root@crash.cts.com
Organization: Crash TimeSharing, El Cajon, CA
Lines: 33

In-Reply-To: message from rcook@eagle.wesleyan.edu

First of all, you should copyright your work.  Though no longer required,
it's still a good idea to put a copyright notice on the source and have it
appear in the opening screen of the executable as well, reading something
like this:  Copyright 1991 (Name).  All Rights Reserved.
The All Rights Reserved protects you under the Berne and Pan-American
Copyright conventions for European and Latin American distribution,
respectively.  You should also file a copy of the source and executable
with the Library of Congress and obtain an official copyright registration
number.  The cost for this is around $40 and the forms may be obtained from
your local Government Information Center (see the U. S. Government listing
in your phone book for the phone number).  This further protects your
rights.  You should also protect any documentation files in a similar
manner, whether printed or on disk.
  
Assuming you've done all this, you still cannot copyright an idea.  You can
patent a process, but whether your game is that unique is clearly an open
question that might take years to resolve.  Instead of that, consider
having an attorney draft a form Secrecy Agreement.  The items to be
protected can be more fully described on an attached Schedule to the
agreement.  Have the company (or anyone else) sign the agreement before you
let them look at the software.  The agreement can provide appropriate
damages for theft of your creation, as well as attorneys' fees, and perhaps
a clause for binding arbitration so the whole thing won't be tied up in the
courts for years.

Nope, I'm not a professional software developer, though I have written a
few programs (nothing major).  How do I know this stuff?  I'm a business
attorney and I hate to see entrepreneurs get hurt, which can easily happen.
Hope some of the above information is of help.

Cordially..................Stuart Schechter