Protecting Your #1 Asset
Chapter One
HORROR STORIES-TALES OF THE UNWARY
To illustrate some of the pitfalls, I pose the following
hypotheticals (based very, very loosely upon actual situations).
Horror Story 1
Ackman developed a new video game conceptually different from all
previous video games. In addition, this game's program employed
radically new data manipulation techniques, which permitted the
generation of amazingly lifelike images on conventional displays.
Ackman began marketing the game software in both ROM "cartridge" and
disk form. Each article sold was dutifully marked with a copyright
notice.
The game was an instant success and the programming technique was
proclaimed a major breakthrough. Within a matter of months,
competing games, conceptually the same as Ackman's but employing
different audiovisual effects and minor functional differences,
began to appear. Ackman sued for copyright infringement. He lost.
Ackman also learned that a number of companies were employing his
display programming techniques in other products and games. His
attorney advised him ... read full excerpt from: Protecting Your #1 Asset: Creating Fortunes from Your Ideas--An Intellectual Property Handbook ebook
