Volume 3: My days in a college fraternity Chapter 101 Definition of protected
"How are your subordinates doing with copying those features, Jonathan?" Jim knocked on the glass door of Chief Technology Officer Jonathan's office and asked with a cup of coffee.
Jonathan sighed, took his hands off the keyboard, put them behind his head, and said helplessly, "Jim, I don't think we can do that. We need to create, not copy. What you are urging us to do now is what you hated before, remember? You hated those studios that copied us and destroyed them one by one, but why do you want us to do the same thing now?"
"Of course it's different. Those small companies copied us. Legally speaking, we are protected by computer copyright. Of course we have to deal with them." Jim walked into Jonathan's office, sat opposite him, drank coffee and said:
"But the situation at this time is that legally speaking, the other party's menus, commands, and hierarchies are not protected by computer copyright, so we can just take them and use them in our software."
"So, Jim, how is protected and unprotected defined in law?" Jonathan looked at the vice president in charge of business transactions and asked.
Jim shrugged. "We have more money, and the other side is poor. Whether it's computer copyright law or the U.S. Constitution or any other U.S. law, it protects the richer party. That's the definition."
"Thank you for telling me frankly a completely new definition of legal protection." Jonathan smiled bitterly.
Jim said seriously, "You're welcome. This is how the world is. The strong prey on the weak. The same is true in business. This way of evolution makes the strong stronger. So it is only natural for us to take away their creativity. If they dare to complain, we can just lift our feet like an elephant and crush the damn ant to death."
"No technical engineer with dreams would be willing to copy other people's ideas directly. Jim, we will find other ways to achieve the same function, but it may take a little time..." Jonathan took a deep breath, then opened his mouth to reject Jim's proposal.
Although Jim has joined the company for five months, he is still not used to dealing with people like Jim, the kind of guy who joined a social fraternity in college to pick up girls all day and liked to bully nerds like him in high school. He and Jim are two different kinds of people. Every time Mickey and he talk to him about the company's development and dreams, that guy looks like he's ready to laugh out loud at any time.
Jonathan didn't understand what was so funny. How could a person who knew nothing about computer technology have the right to laugh at software engineers like them when they developed software to change the world talked about their dreams.
Moreover, I don’t know if this guy was influenced by the Soviets during his previous inspection trip to the Soviet Union. He speaks in a vulgar manner and uses swear words at every turn. Many employees have been verbally humiliated by him.
"Time is time, Jonathan. I have learned that there is no plan to launch the software, at least not at the normal level. So, take advantage of now to launch an updated version as soon as possible, install all the functions you find convenient, seize more market share, accumulate higher sales figures, get a higher valuation, and earn more money. Make sure that the software will not have any influence after our launch. This is what you should consider as the chief technology officer." Jim put down his coffee cup, looked at Jonathan with a burning gaze, and interrupted Jonathan:
"If you feel embarrassed that only Lotus did this, give me a copy of the software and I will send it to Micro-Innovation. In this way, we copied the spreadsheet function and they copied the electronic document function. Doesn't it sound like this will reduce your shame by half?"
Jonathan lowered his head and was silent for more than ten seconds before he spoke: "In fact, I still can't believe that I am worth tens of millions. All this is full of unreality. I always feel that it is just a dream. Maybe one day I will wake up and find myself back in the garage two years ago. It was just Mickey and I, happily and painfully typing code that summer."
"I'll take care of the garage problem. I'll buy it for you and Mickey as a Christmas gift so you can go back and reminisce about it from time to time. But you have to satisfy me about the functional issues, implement more efficient functions, and seize the market." Jim looked at Jonathan: "That's it. Tell me if you can solve this problem as soon as possible?"
Jonathan nodded silently: "I'll try my best."
"It's not trying your best. This is what you have to do." Jim said, picked up his coffee cup, stood up and walked out the door: "Don't let me rush you again, Jonathan."
Jim walked in the corridor, shaking his head. Dealing with these founders of technology companies was really a painful thing for him.
In the United States, it is very dangerous to have a billionaire and still have a moral bottom line. It means that other rich people without a bottom line will sooner or later find an opportunity to swallow him up.
And now Lotus company has two such strange existences, the two founders, and we have to find ways to ensure their safety to prevent them from being swallowed up by those businessmen, digesting their wealth, and then turning them into two paupers.
"When I first joined Lotus, I was filled with regret for bullying those nerds in high school, but now..." Jim staggered towards his office with a coffee cup in his hand, muttering to himself as he walked:
"God is fair. I have tortured nerds, so now I am assigned to guard nerds. This is definitely the most painful and desperate punishment for a torturer like me. I don't know if the flight tickets have been booked. I want to go and have some fun with the California girl to vent my stress."
…
Stanford Law School Legal Aid Center.
Stanford Law School is a graduate school and there are very few undergraduates here.
However, the legal aid center here provides services to all Stanford students. Here you can learn about legal issues you want to understand. It provides fast and convenient legal consultation services, and it is free of charge.
Sophia O'Connor is a top student at Stanford Law School. She provides legal advice to Stanford alumni in her spare time, but her intuition tells her that the golden-haired boy named Tommy Hawke in front of her today seems to have bad intentions.
"Ms. O'Connor, I would like to consult you about copyright law under Title 17 of the United States Code. I asked my fraternity's legal advisor, but he couldn't answer me, so I'm here." Tommy said straight to the woman in black-framed glasses in front of him.
Sophia nodded. "Of course, no problem. But I'm curious. You've already consulted a lawyer. Either the lawyer is not good at copyright law, or your problem is too time-consuming to explain. I hope you won't end up taking too much time to explain."
"Don't worry, it's a simple question." Tommy said affirmatively: "Is computer software protected by copyright?"
Sophia said without hesitation: "Of course, of course I am protected."
"That is, if I plagiarize a software and make it exactly the same as the plagiarized software, the other party will sue me, right?" Tommy continued.
Sophia frowned slightly. "Yes, you stumped the lawyer with this question? I suspect he simply doesn't want to pay attention to you. Remember I reminded you to be concise in your explanation?"
"Okay, the difficulty has increased. I changed the design of the software. For example, the one I copied is wearing red clothes, and my software is wearing blue clothes. Is it still protected?" Tommy nodded and asked with a smile.
Sophia still gave an affirmative answer: "Of course, just because you changed the color, it won't change the plagiarism of your software."
"The difficulty has increased. Our two softwares are written in the same C language, but the operations, menus, structural levels, etc. all look different. Is this still plagiarism?" Tommy asked Sophia.
"Although there are no computer-related copyright regulations in copyright law, referring to past cases, yes." Sophia paused for a few seconds and gave her answer.
Tommy became interested: "Reference to past cases. There is no relevant mature computer software copyright law. Just reference to past cases? Change the question. There are two cars. One is an American car developed first, and the other is a Japanese car developed later. They are both family cars. Everything else is different. Are you sure the court will rule that the Japanese car copied the American car?"
"...This problem is actually quite troublesome." Sophia pursed her lips. She needed to come up with more intuitive words to solve this problem, but a few words obviously could not solve this problem.
Tommy continued, "In other words, if American cars developed the forward function first, then Japanese cars could not design the forward function like American cars? If that were the case, American car companies would have sued Japanese car companies long ago. So think about it carefully, Miss O'Connor, what is the difference between the two softwares and these two cars? Why is it still considered plagiarism?"
"...Okay, this is indeed very difficult. I need to cross-check many relevant legal clauses before I can answer you. If you are not in a hurry, maybe you can come back next week, and I can give you some intuitive advice then?" Sophia exhaled lightly and gave her answer.
"No, there is one last question. I hope you can give me some ideas next week. Just like the forward function of a car, should the functional menu be considered a protected patent for the software, or should it be considered an unprotected operating method to serve users?" After Tommy finished speaking, he stood up, thanked Sophia, and prepared to leave.
Seeing that the other party was about to leave in a hurry after asking the question, Sophia subconsciously asked, "So, do you want it to be protected or not?"
"Let me put it this way, ma'am, it doesn't matter to me whether I'm protected or not. I just want to know because I want to make sure that I'll get something out of it whichever side I'm on." Tommy turned his head to look at her, then walked out of the legal aid center with a smile.
