On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Andrew Warren wrote:

> 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?

Uhm, the formula - actually, several of the formulas - were published some
years ago.  Cally can't recall the name of the author or the book, and her
source was a radio interview by Ian Punnet.  I think the author's response
to "isn't Coke pissed at you?" (paraphrased, of course) is relevant to
this issue whether or not what he published was in fact the One True Coke
Formula.

He says he went to Coke-Cola and asked them what their reaction would be
(this was before the book was published).  Their answer was,
approximately, "Why would we care?"  Suppose he intended to use the
formula.  He'd have to line up production facilities, arrange for
distribution, get shelf space, get people to buy - or even try - the
product... and as Andy points out, he might use the formula but he
couldn't call it "Coke".

OTOH, Andy, I don't know that this example is very relevant to products
that aren't incredibly high volume, almost-commodity products like Coke
and Pepsi and etc.