Best way of Protecting Programs you made/are making?

[MrDingleDangle]

I am currently in the middle of writing a program using Matlab to do analysis on biomedical kinetics and at least one company whose product I am using to get the data is interested in looking at what I have done

My question is what is the best way to protect my program, so they cant just see it and write another program that does similiar stuff. They would have an advantage as they are a company and I am in academia (now a technician going to be a grad student)

the program right now is finished in what it does, but still has a ways to go (at least a month) in design/user friendly.


what should i do with the company that wants to see it (they could use it for their product since they have no analysis tools yet)...

 

[notfred]

Copyright it, and make them sign some sort of agreement before you show it to them.

 

[Drakkon]

whatever you do DONT give it to them, have a presentation ready through powerpoint that doesn't show the program in action, just screenshots of what is possible.
if they are a "big" company having them sign anything is pointless...our company showed a "protoype" to IBM and 3 months later they had their own version ready to go even though they said they weren't interested in our idea and signed a paper stating such, along with nodisclosure and all that. They have "Creative" ways of finding loopholes around that sorta thing.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Yes, NDA is of limited value since you can't easily protect an idea or feature (like "a spreadsheet that displays charts in its cells" or "tabbed browser windows").

If you show them a slideshow of results you might be able to get them to sign some agreement for payment or royalties before giving them code.

Also, they may just want to pay you (fee or royalties) to be a consultant on the number-crunching code, while they turn the glue & UI coding over to professionals to create a polished commercial user interface.

 

[SinNisTeR]

oh man, that's scary... im working on something with a friend and after hearing this, im scared to have it taken away from under us. Especially after all the work and research we put into it.

 

[MrDingleDangle]

my plan is basically do what you have suggested, print out screenshots of some examples of what has been done, then make sure before they see it that there is something more that would take them too longer to create their own version. The hard part seems to keep updating it so im always ahead of them, I guess i have to decide if i should just try and sell it once and let it go, or keep adding to it

 

[bob4432]

consult a lawyer...

 

[Armitage]

How much do you expect to get from it? Considering your position, is it worthwhile to consider doing an internship/job with them to implement this project for them?

They get the model.
You get a job for a few months & great resume material.

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: Drakkon
whatever you do DONT give it to them, have a presentation ready through powerpoint that doesn't show the program in action, just screenshots of what is possible.
if they are a "big" company having them sign anything is pointless...our company showed a "protoype" to IBM and 3 months later they had their own version ready to go even though they said they weren't interested in our idea and signed a paper stating such, along with nodisclosure and all that. They have "Creative" ways of finding loopholes around that sorta thing.

Yep - the only way to go after them if they break the NDA is to sue them. I doubt the OP has anywhere near the resources he'd need to pull that off.

 

[Spacecomber]

I'm not sure what sort of job you have exactly at the moment, but you might also need to check if your employer will consider anything that you have come up with their property.

If your program is related to the work you are doing for them and they could argue that you were doing this as part of your employment with them, they might have a finger in this pie, as well.

Space

 

[MrDingleDangle]

Originally posted by: Spacecomber
I'm not sure what sort of job you have exactly at the moment, but you might also need to check if your employer will consider anything that you have come up with their property.

If your program is related to the work you are doing for them and they could argue that you were doing this as part of your employment with them, they might have a finger in this pie, as well.

Space

right now i am a technician in a academic lab, which i will be joining as a student in a couple of months.

right now i think my plan of attack is,
a)show them printouts to see if they are in fact really interested
b) tell them it will be ready in a month or two and I would be happy to sell(after talking with my boss) them a copy and would be willing to consult them (for a fee) on the proper uses and add any improvements to the software

because no way anyone else would be able to figure out what i did in my code

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: MrDingleDangle
because no way anyone else would be able to figure out what i did in my code

this kind of thinking could get you into trouble....not trying to sound like a d!ck, but that is what the dvd people thought(actually everybody that has made copy protections schemes, which all have been circumvented in some way) until that kid from the netherlands cracked it so he could make a *nix dvd player....

just be careful...

 

[Cheetah8799]

MrDingleDangle, I highly suggest you talk to a copyright/patent/trademark attorney. If you consider your software worth a fair amount of money, then the cost of a couple hours of lawyer fees for consultation would be worth it. I doubt anyone here on the forum has the real answers to your questions. My dad is a copyright/patent/trademark attorney, and I've done a bunch of work for his small firm, but even I can't tell you what to do. It's way more complicated than just signing a NDA and doing a powerpoint demo.

If you want to hire an attorney, your first step should be to open the phone book and start calling around. Find out what a bunch of attorneys charge per hour and take your pick. Maybe you can get some references over the phone to attorneys that specialize in software and such.

 

[GimpyOne]

Also as was mentioned check with your academic institution. In every academic institution I have seen, if done while you are paid by that insitution, your work does NOT belong to you, but rather the institution. You usually have to sign something to that effect as a condition of your employment. Unless you can prove that you did it after hours without the use of any of the institutions resources.

In addition, your institution may have an IP deparmtent with lawyers on hand who can tell you exactly what you can and/or should do with this company to get them interested but not give anything away.(several places I have been have this) They may also tell you it isn't worth their time and you might just want to use it as leverage for an internship type of program as Armitage said.

And finally....DO NOT show them screenshots directly from your program. You will be amazed at how quickly they reverse engineer your software. Show them raw data, not formatted for you software and then a plot in Excel, Sigmaplot, Orgin, etc...of your results. I know several people who have shown pictures of equipment/screenshots of software, gotten a verbal agreement to purchase said software, and then find out several months later the company went ahead and did it on their own. Your software needs to be a magical black hole that miraculously spits out pretty pictures until you get something firm from them in writing.