

Ask HN: Copyright/IP Question - ErrantX

I've been asked this question by another person (so sorry if the details are a bit wrong) but have no real expertise there. Hopefully someone here can shed some light.<p>Hypothetically we have 2 companies competing in an indentical field: basically the 2 leading companies.<p>Now, the problem is company B has products matching company A in features and functionality. Company B waits for an A Product to launch then launches a competing product of this form (I think that is how it has been described to me).<p>How close does the product have to match (assuming no patent infringement, no code theft and no industrial espionage for the time being) before some sort of legal line is crossed?<p>Personally I am of the inclination that even if they directly reproduce a program identical in features there is not a lot comapny A can do? Or am I wrong?
======
pbhjpbhj
I worked as a Patent Examiner for 5 years and have hobbied as a copyright
troll (!) for quite a long time:

AFAIK, and this is not IP legal advice, there's jack all you can do unless you
have something uniquely novel and some sort of IP registration. Are they using
your trademarks to describe the product; Are they using your registered design
as the form of the product; Are they using your patented process; Are they
copying your artistic input?

From your description it doesn't sound like you have anything - you're then
getting into the territory of making something up, eg getting a weak patent to
batter people with [who don't have IP lawyers on staff].

Did you see the original implementations of Star Office (now OpenOffice.org)
versus MS's Word at the time? If MS could've sued they would IMO.

~~~
ErrantX
Yeh that's the way I am leaning at the moment. It really does seem to be a
case of identical featureset and similar language to describe it (for example
some of the acronyms for features are the same though the exact words (that
make up the acronym) are different).

Thanks for your input (you made me confident to go back to the guy and say
"you need an IP lawyer" :))

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Just read the Audion vs SoundJam (which became iTunes) story posted elsewhere
on HN. It seems quite aposit. Audion created a new skinning method, SoundJam
copied that method allowing Audion skins to be used with SoundJam. Some other
company than Panic would have added DRM to prevent the use of the skins in
anything but Audion.

Is there any way you can be more specific about the products? An IP Lawyer is
going to cost you - they will find stuff that you can protect but this is not
necessarily going to be the best way forward. Lawyers tend to see legal
solutions. YMMV.

edit:Typo

