Yes. Although when I said "IT" partner, I didn't mean some lackey who's willing to take a little salary and some options to work somewhere. I meant a true partner, as in one of the stakeholders. This is generally a zero salary situation, but the payoffs are fucking enormous.
Note that it doesn't have to be an IT business, just one in which the venture capitalist needs an IT infrastructure. Which includes very many ordinary businesses these days.
I was willing to go outside my field, while applying skills from my trade as a secondary source
You are unusual. Congratulations. I'll give a tidbit to you. There are venture capitalists who are constantly looking for "IT" partners. IT partners are hard to find, because as a group, IT people aren't risk takers.
I had contact with this lawyer because he was my intellectual property attorney. Previous to representing me, he presented lectures to an R&D firm I was associated with. Later, he helped me with two patents. I don't forward his contact information to strangers on the internet.
If you _intentionally_ replicate any copyrighted work in sufficient substance, this is per se violation of copyright. It does not require a xerox machine or a disk drive.
If you happen to produce something similar (functionally), because you are experienced and good at what you do, it is NOT a violation of copyright. You later hinted at that, but your story as you began was strong, emphasizing intentional replication. Perhaps you meant replication of function and not replication of the _code_? But you said, to wit: "...replicate code you wrote before from memory alone..."
Intentional replication of _code_ is a violation of copyright. Later replication of functionality, even if quite intentional, is perfectly fine as long as no other legal strictures apply.
If you were to assert that it would be pretty hard for someone to actually replicate very much code, even on purpose, from memory, I'd generally agree. It would, however, still be actionable if it ever occurred.
Hope this helps.
Sorry for letting loose on you earlier, I was cranky....
Maybe if there was a patented algorithm in it. Otherwise, no it's not.
You have no legal right to copy your former employer's code completely from memory, and if you do this, and admit it in court, you may as well hand over all of your material possessions now, along with a significant garnishment of your future wages.
You have consulted neither the law nor an attorney on this subject, and it shows.
The person effectively rewrote it from scratch...
You were talking about doing it from memory. Don't change your story.
It pays to know your rights. If the agreement is illegal in your state, you won't actually need to defend it in court. The whole thing would be tossed out in summary judgement, with PREJUDICE, meaning that the plaintiff would not be allowed to bring the case again.
In _some_ states, agreements like this are actually a midemeanor for the _employer_ to make (or offer to make) with the employee. Fat chance indeed that they will actually go to court with it, however I've heard of many, many cases where unscrupulous companies will _threaten_ to in order to browbeat the ignorant and manipulable masses.
I've been party to such agreements. I can only laugh. They are actually worth _less_ than the paper they are written on.
You do realize, don't you, that if an attorney writes up a brief that describes material violations of a contract that is illegal to make in the state in which he alleges the violation occurred, the attorney himself could be in big trouble, right? You can get disbarred for stuff like that.
You know that. I know that. This other person is fond of talking out of his ass. I do suggest, however, that perhaps he employ an attorney before making any of life's critical IP decisions. Heh.
Well that's all very interesting. The last time I looked at this subject, the stated requirements for strength required many, many times per unit of mass strength. Somewhere, the estimation of the strength of carbon nanofiber must have increased by orders of magnitude.
It will have the tremendous tension accellerating it and it would have weight of its long length encouraging it to fall down lengthwise for minimum drag.
Half way up, at 32,000 miles, there is no appreciable drag. Also, I question your mass-density assumptions.
. In this case, we appear to be talking about a glorified piece of tinsel.
Upon what are you basing your assumptions of its width and overall mass per unit of width-length?
Any destruction, therefore, should be concentrated at the base station.
I personally doubt your premises, so am therefore naturally having some difficulty with the conclusion.:)
You're assuming that 62,000 miles is a typo? It's not. If the thing comes down it will wrap around the world at like mach-20. TWICE. Helluva whiplash suit there, yeah.
Which is highly compatible with Linux at the API level, actually. I've ported a couple hundred thousand lines of code that way, with almost no work at all.
Also, Railguns suffer from a traditional problem with projectiles: lack of collateral damage.
Well, possibly. I'm not convinced that a high velocity rail gun wouldn't convert mostly into heat and gas overpressure as it hit the side of a large object, however. That's a lot of energy release.
You probably did! Haven't you noticed that Joe Camel bares a passing resemblance to a penis?
C//
Re:That's an awful lot of money
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That's a 1ghz laptop... not 2... and it has a Crusoe processor, which will be performing less well than a native 1 ghz x86 chip. A price wasn't shown when I followed your link.
C//
Re:That's an awful lot of money
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Is it really worth it, when you can buy a 2ghz laptop with 256+ MB of ram for less than $1000?
If the words quoted were the words actually spoken, they probably would have. If, with witnesses of my own present, they spoke those words, I would have called the police and had them arrested on the spot.
"OK," he said, "maybe you don't infringe these seven patents. But we have 10,000 U.S. patents. Do you really want us to go back to Armonk and find seven patents you do infringe? Or do you want to make this easy and just pay us $20 million?"
That's extortion. It's a felony that can and will get you many years in prison.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually his comment is more realistic than you might think.
Good grief!
You yourself haven't even attempted to perform the very calculations that you suggest that I try!
C//
Yes. Although when I said "IT" partner, I didn't mean some lackey who's willing to take a little salary and some options to work somewhere. I meant a true partner, as in one of the stakeholders. This is generally a zero salary situation, but the payoffs are fucking enormous.
Note that it doesn't have to be an IT business, just one in which the venture capitalist needs an IT infrastructure. Which includes very many ordinary businesses these days.
C//
You need about $6 million dollars to not be poor as a senior citizen... ... as spoken by someone who has little financial knowledge or sense.
C//
I was willing to go outside my field, while applying skills from my trade as a secondary source
You are unusual. Congratulations. I'll give a tidbit to you. There are venture capitalists who are constantly looking for "IT" partners. IT partners are hard to find, because as a group, IT people aren't risk takers.
C//
I had contact with this lawyer because he was my intellectual property attorney. Previous to representing me, he presented lectures to an R&D firm I was associated with. Later, he helped me with two patents. I don't forward his contact information to strangers on the internet.
If you _intentionally_ replicate any copyrighted work in sufficient substance, this is per se violation of copyright. It does not require a xerox machine or a disk drive.
If you happen to produce something similar (functionally), because you are experienced and good at what you do, it is NOT a violation of copyright. You later hinted at that, but your story as you began was strong, emphasizing intentional replication. Perhaps you meant replication of function and not replication of the _code_? But you said, to wit: "...replicate code you wrote before from memory alone..."
Intentional replication of _code_ is a violation of copyright. Later replication of functionality, even if quite intentional, is perfectly fine as long as no other legal strictures apply.
If you were to assert that it would be pretty hard for someone to actually replicate very much code, even on purpose, from memory, I'd generally agree. It would, however, still be actionable if it ever occurred.
Hope this helps.
Sorry for letting loose on you earlier, I was cranky....
C//
Have you?
Yes.
C//
Maybe if there was a patented algorithm in it. Otherwise, no it's not.
You have no legal right to copy your former employer's code completely from memory, and if you do this, and admit it in court, you may as well hand over all of your material possessions now, along with a significant garnishment of your future wages.
You have consulted neither the law nor an attorney on this subject, and it shows.
The person effectively rewrote it from scratch...
You were talking about doing it from memory. Don't change your story.
C//
It pays to know your rights. If the agreement is illegal in your state, you won't actually need to defend it in court. The whole thing would be tossed out in summary judgement, with PREJUDICE, meaning that the plaintiff would not be allowed to bring the case again.
In _some_ states, agreements like this are actually a midemeanor for the _employer_ to make (or offer to make) with the employee. Fat chance indeed that they will actually go to court with it, however I've heard of many, many cases where unscrupulous companies will _threaten_ to in order to browbeat the ignorant and manipulable masses.
I've been party to such agreements. I can only laugh. They are actually worth _less_ than the paper they are written on.
You do realize, don't you, that if an attorney writes up a brief that describes material violations of a contract that is illegal to make in the state in which he alleges the violation occurred, the attorney himself could be in big trouble, right? You can get disbarred for stuff like that.
C//
You know that. I know that. This other person is fond of talking out of his ass. I do suggest, however, that perhaps he employ an attorney before making any of life's critical IP decisions. Heh.
C//
This utterly incorrect in any State of the United States, and probably in most first world countries.
C//
Well, they also typically make you sign a non-compete.
These aren't binding in many states.
they sent the lawyers out after them and threatened to make their lives miserable if they went to work at this other company
That would be an actionable offense in some states; a quick road to early retirement for the party so treated.
C//
Well that's all very interesting. The last time I looked at this subject, the stated requirements for strength required many, many times per unit of mass strength. Somewhere, the estimation of the strength of carbon nanofiber must have increased by orders of magnitude.
C//
It will have the tremendous tension accellerating it and it would have weight of its long length encouraging it to fall down lengthwise for minimum drag.
:)
Half way up, at 32,000 miles, there is no appreciable drag. Also, I question your mass-density assumptions.
. In this case, we appear to be talking about a glorified piece of tinsel.
Upon what are you basing your assumptions of its width and overall mass per unit of width-length?
Any destruction, therefore, should be concentrated at the base station.
I personally doubt your premises, so am therefore naturally having some difficulty with the conclusion.
Where'd you get this figure?
C//
You're assuming that 62,000 miles is a typo? It's not. If the thing comes down it will wrap around the world at like mach-20. TWICE. Helluva whiplash suit there, yeah.
C//
You cannot achieve geosynchronous orbit at 62 miles. Hell, I'm not even sure you can even achieve fast orbit there...
C//
Are these all running on Windows now?
SPARC-Solaris, a lot of them.
Which is highly compatible with Linux at the API level, actually. I've ported a couple hundred thousand lines of code that way, with almost no work at all.
C//
Do you really think we can "just switch the whole DOD" that easily?
Yes, it just requires and ORDER. Far, far simpler than the commercial world.
C//
Also, Railguns suffer from a traditional problem with projectiles: lack of collateral damage.
Well, possibly. I'm not convinced that a high velocity rail gun wouldn't convert mostly into heat and gas overpressure as it hit the side of a large object, however. That's a lot of energy release.
C//
I never wanted to strangle Joe Camel.
You probably did! Haven't you noticed that Joe Camel bares a passing resemblance to a penis?
C//
That's a 1ghz laptop... not 2... and it has a Crusoe processor, which will be performing less well than a native 1 ghz x86 chip. A price wasn't shown when I followed your link.
C//
Is it really worth it, when you can buy a 2ghz laptop with 256+ MB of ram for less than $1000?
That $1000 laptop weighs a LOT more.
C//
Brad Wardell of Galactic Civilizations fame has another product called Window Blinds. Window blinds has been doing this for years and years.
C//
If the words quoted were the words actually spoken, they probably would have. If, with witnesses of my own present, they spoke those words, I would have called the police and had them arrested on the spot.
C//
"OK," he said, "maybe you don't infringe these seven patents. But we have 10,000 U.S. patents. Do you really want us to go back to Armonk and find seven patents you do infringe? Or do you want to make this easy and just pay us $20 million?"
That's extortion. It's a felony that can and will get you many years in prison.
C//