Best way to protect my new commercial software.

[Steven D'Aprano]

I wasn't. If I write something down and somebody steals that paper,
that's theft.

In which case copyright isn't going to protect you -- especially if you
were relying on automatic copyright and haven't registered it.

 

[Robert Kern]

In which case copyright isn't going to protect you -- especially if you
were relying on automatic copyright and haven't registered it.

<off_topic_armchair_lawyering_though_ianal>
Well, you can get injunctive relief without registering the copyright. Copyright
doesn't protect one from physical theft, but it does grant some protection
against the things the thief might do with the stolen goods.

For example, suppose someone steals my laptop with all of my code on it. They
could take my unpublished code and slap it on SourceForge. Provided that I could
prove authorship, I could get a court order for the thief to remove that code. I
don't need to prove that he stole my laptop in order to do that. Actually, now
that I think about it, I could issue a DMCA takedown notice, and I wouldn't need
to prove anything at all unless if the notice gets challenged; then the burden
of proof is on them.
</off_topic_armchair_lawyering_though_ianal>

--
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
an underlying truth."
-- Umberto Eco

 

[Piet van Oostrum]

SD> It means that there is a serious problem of "orphan works", where rare
SD> and valuable films from the 1920s and earlier are rapidly decaying
SD> into an unusable powder because nobody dares copy them lest the
SD> unknown copyright owners descend like vultures and sue you for
SD> copyright infringement *after* you've done the hard work of restoring
SD> our cultural heritage.

Our (Dutch) copyright law has a specific exemption for this particular
case for libraries, museums and archives.

 

[Farsheed Ashouri]

Well, I think my question was a programming question not a copyright
question.
I expect a nice script in 15-35 lines that protects my software from
working on
another machine. I don't want best protection method available, like
flexlm or etc.
My software is some kind of business secret and working it in another
company means
that other companies can do what we can. Copyright means nothing here
(I live in Iran!). We produce tv animation
and commercials and if a company use it, we even can't aware of it.
Ireally hope for a real post.
but thank all of you for reply.
sorry for my bad english.

 

[Dennis Lee Bieber]

Well, I think my question was a programming question not a copyright
question.
I expect a nice script in 15-35 lines that protects my software from
working on
another machine. I don't want best protection method available, like

Ah, but at that shortness, what will protect the protection script?

flexlm or etc.
My software is some kind of business secret and working it in another
company means

Proprietary information/trade-secret is only effective if it is
never allowed OUT of the company. If someone has access to the code,
there is nothing that can stop them reverse-engineering, copying, etc.
except honor... Don't allow memory cards, CD or DVD, floppies, and email
attachments to go out.
--
Wulfraed Dennis Lee Bieber KD6MOG
(e-mail address removed) (e-mail address removed)
HTTP://wlfraed.home.netcom.com/
(Bestiaria Support Staff: (e-mail address removed))
HTTP://www.bestiaria.com/

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

Ah, but at that shortness, what will protect the protection script?
....

Proprietary information/trade-secret is only effective if it is
never allowed OUT of the company. If someone has access to the code,
there is nothing that can stop them reverse-engineering, copying, etc.
except honor... Don't allow memory cards, CD or DVD, floppies, and email
attachments to go out.

At 15-35 lines, it is short enough for people to copy it down on paper,
or even memorize it, then take it home and work on finding a
vulnerability in it.

 

[Dennis Lee Bieber]

At 15-35 lines, it is short enough for people to copy it down on paper,
or even memorize it, then take it home and work on finding a
vulnerability in it.

<heh> I'd actually been thinking of the real product getting out,
not just the "protection"...

--
Wulfraed Dennis Lee Bieber KD6MOG
(e-mail address removed) (e-mail address removed)
HTTP://wlfraed.home.netcom.com/
(Bestiaria Support Staff: (e-mail address removed))
HTTP://www.bestiaria.com/

 

[Hendrik van Rooyen]

SD declaimed the following in
comp.lang.python:


<heh> I'd actually been thinking of the real product getting out,
not just the "protection"...

I wonder if the OP would not be better off splitting the app into two bits,
releasing the "client" side and keeping the "server" side secret, in a protected
directory.

That would add the complication of a protocol to make a hacker's life more
miserable, and if there is an "interesting bit" it can be hidden in the server
side.

It also has the advantage that you can log accesses to the server.

Its a lot of extra work, though, and if the stuff is computationally intensive,
it can be slow, because what could be done concurrently on several client
machines would be done serially on the single secret server.

Pyro could help here, as always.

- Hendrik