onfusion in the field.

In 1974, MBA embarked on our own lawsuit to protect the "PRIDE" methodology. This was a lengthy legal battle which took the courts into unchartered waters. At the time, "PRIDE" was nothing more than a methodology implemented with printed manuals and forms (no software support at the

"Lawsuits primarily benefit the attorneys and nobody else." - Bryce's Law

INTRODUCTION

The protection of intellectual property should be a significant concern to all Information Technology organizations. Without protection, commercial hardware/software vendors would quickly evaporate as others would inevitably steal their designs and programs. Corporate developers would also suffer if their ideas, inventions, and programs were misappropriated thereby causing them to lose their competitive advantage. In fact, our corporate landscape and standard of living would be radically different if we had no such protection. Fortunately, the framers of the U.S. Constitution were wise enough to implement legislation safeguarding the authorship and ownership of literature, art, and inventions, thus causing the United States to flourish in the arts and sciences. But the advent of the computer caused us to reconsider how we safeguard such property. For example, the concept of a computer program has been a bit nebulous to some people; should the source code be protected by copyright? What about the object code (executable)? Attorneys have been debating this subject over the last thirty years and there is still general confusion in the field.

In 1974, MBA embarked on our own lawsuit to protect the "PRIDE" methodology. This was a lengthy legal battle which took the courts into unchartered waters. At the time, "PRIDE" was nothing more than a methodology implemented with printed manuals and forms (no software support at the

s others would inevitably steal their designs and programs. Corporate developers would also suffer if their ideas, inventions, and programs were misappropriated thereby causing them to lose their competitive advantage. In fact, our corporate landscape and standard of living would be radically different if we had no such protection. Fortunately, the framers of the U.S. Constitution were wise enough to implement legislation safeguarding the authorship and ownership of literature, art, and inventions, thus causing the United States to flourish in the arts and sciences. But the advent of the computer caused us to reconsider how we safeguard such property. For example, the concept of a computer program has been a bit nebulous to some people; should the source code be protected by copyright? What about the object code (executable)? Attorneys have been debating this subject over the last thirty years and there is still general confusion in the field.

In 1974, MBA embarked on our own lawsuit to protect the "PRIDE" methodology. This was a lengthy legal battle which took the courts into unchartered waters. At the time, "PRIDE" was nothing more than a methodology implemented with printed manuals and forms (no software support at the

d no such protection. Fortunately, the framers of the U.S. Constitution were wise enough to implement legislation safeguarding the authorship and ownership of literature, art, and inventions, thus causing the United States to flourish in the arts and sciences. But the advent of the computer caused us to reconsider how we safeguard such property. For example, the concept of a computer program has been a bit nebulous to some people; should the source code be protected by copyright? What about the object code (executable)? Attorneys have been debating this subject over the last thirty years and there is still general confusion in the field.

In 1974, MBA embarked on our own lawsuit to protect the "PRIDE" methodology. This was a lengthy legal battle which took the courts into unchartered waters. At the time, "PRIDE" was nothing more than a methodology implemented with printed manuals and forms (no software support at the

er how we safeguard such property. For example, the concept of a computer program has been a bit nebulous to some people; should the source code be protected by copyright? What about the object code (executable)? Attorneys have been debating this subject over the last thirty years and there is still general confusion in the field.

In 1974, MBA embarked on our own lawsuit to protect the "PRIDE" methodology. This was a lengthy legal battle which took the courts into unchartered waters. At the time, "PRIDE" was nothing more than a methodology implemented with printed manuals and forms (no software support at the

onfusion in the field.

In 1974, MBA embarked on our own lawsuit to protect the "PRIDE" methodology. This was a lengthy legal battle which took the courts into unchartered waters. At the time, "PRIDE" was nothing more than a methodology implemented with printed manuals and forms (no software support at the time). To safeguard our product, our lawyers drafted a standard nondisclosure agreement which all prospective buyers would sign prior to our sales presentation. Further, our contracts included similar verbiage instructing the customer to safeguard the physical embodiment of the product and not to divulge it to unauthorized third parties.

We were contacted by Arthur Young & Company in 1974 to conduct a "PRIDE" sales presentation for one of their consulting clients in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the Harley Davidson Motorcycle Company (then a division of AMF). The attendees signed the nondisclosure agreement and the presentation was conducted as usual. Following the presentation, MBA was informed that Harley wouldn't be purchasing our product, and that Arthur Young would be developing a similar methodology for Harley instead. This made MBA suspicious, particularly since one of Young's consultants was a former "PRIDE" user. Consequently, MBA initiated a lawsuit over misappropriation of trade secrets.

This turned into a long and ugly legal battle which lasted eight years. Basically, the lawyers for the opposition contended that since the "PRIDE" materials had copyright notation printed on them, they were in the public domain.