wfdavis@davis-inc.com <wfdavis@davis-inc.com> wrote:

> if you don't protect your product by patent, your only remaining
> protection (other than copyright) is via trade secret law.  Here,
> unlike the patent, trade secrets are good forever -- or until
> someone reverse engineers your product and discovers how it works.
> This (at least in the U.S.) is perfectly legal no matter how
> difficult you make it for the reverse engineer.  Your only
> protection against reverse engineering is to sell your product
> encumbered by a non-disclosure agreement with teeth in it that
> must be completed as a condition of sale.  So, if you didn't sign a
> non-disclosure agreement when you bought your last bottle of Coke,
> you are free (at least in the U.S.) to reverse engineer it and hit
> the market with your copy. Just don't call it "Coke"!!!

Sigh...

I REALLY didn't want to get involved in this pointless thread, but
now I feel obliged to.

Your example DISPROVES your contention that "your only protection
against reverse engineering is to sell your product [with] a
non-disclosure agreement".  Coca-Cola, Inc., makes a HUGE amount of
money... If the secrecy of the formula were the only obstacle to
taking Coke's market share away, don't you think someone would've
done it by now?

Please.

-Andy

Andrew Warren - fastfwd@ix.netcom.com
Fast Forward Engineering, Vista, California
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2499