> 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 > Andy, You've entirely missed my point!! The point is that advocacy of a policy of no-patenting simply because the big boys are too big is extremely poor advice. What I intended to make clear was that the only alternative (save copyright), namely protection under trade secret law, amounts to no protection at all. First of all, this is true because this is the way the law works (hence my illustration that it is as true for Coke as it is for the little guy). And second, it is especially true for the little guy, as opposed to Coke, precisely because the little guy does not have the resources that would otherwise protect against reverse engineering as in the case of Coke. --- Warren ================================================ Davis Associates, Inc. 43 Holden Road West Newton, MA 02165 U.S.A. Tel: 617-244-1450 FAX: 617-964-4917 Visit our web site at: http://www.davis-inc.com ================================================