American Entertainment 1982

"How did your subordinates copy those functions? 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 away from the keyboard, put his pillow behind his head, and said in a helpless tone: "Jim, I don't think we can do that, we have to create, not copy, what you are urging us to do now , It was an act you hated before, remember? You hated those studios that copied us and knocked them down one by one, but now why do you want us to do the same thing?"

"Of course it's different. Those small companies copied us. Legally speaking, we are protected by computer copyrights. Of course we have to solve 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 hierarchy are not protected by computer copyright, so we can directly take them over and use them in our software."

"So, Jim, how does the law define protected and unprotected?" Jonathan looked at his vice president in charge of business transactions and asked.

Jim shrugged: "We have more money, and the other party is poor. Whether it is the computer copyright law or the US Constitution or any other American law, it protects the party with more money. This is the definition."

"Thank you for telling me frankly, a brand new definition of legal protection." Jonathan said with a speechless wry smile.

Jim said seriously: "You're welcome, this is how the world is, the weak prey on the strong, and the shopping mall is the same. It is this evolutionary method that makes the strong stronger, so we take away their ideas. Just like that, gently lift your foot and crush that damned ant to death."

"No technical engineer with a dream is willing to directly copy other people's ideas, Jim, we will find other ways to achieve the same function, but it may take a little longer..." Jonathan took a deep breath, and then opened his mouth to reject Jim's proposal.

Although Jim has been in the company for five months, he is still not used to dealing with Jim, the kind of guy who joined the social frat in college to pick up girls all day, and in high school liked to bully himself. Jim and Jim are two different kinds of people. Every time I and Mickey chat with him about the company's development and dreams, that guy always looks ready to laugh out loud.

Jonathan didn't understand what was ridiculous. A person who didn't understand computer technology at all had the right to laugh at them when software engineers who developed software to change the world talked about their dreams.

And this guy doesn't know if he was influenced by the Soviets when he visited the Soviet Union before, and he spoke vulgarly and swears at every turn. Many employees have been humiliated by him with words.

"Time is time, Jonathan, I initially learned that there is no plan for that software to be released for the time being, at least not on a normal level, so take advantage of this time to release an update as soon as possible, install all the functions you find convenient, and grab more market, accumulate higher sales figures, get higher valuations, earn more money, and ensure that the software will be launched after us without any influence. This is what you should consider as a chief technology officer. problem." Jim put down his coffee cup, looked at Jonathan with hot eyes, and interrupted Jonathan:

"If it's just Lotus doing this kind of thing that makes you feel embarrassed, give me a copy of that software, and I'll send it to MicroPort, so that we copy the function of the spreadsheet, and they copy the function of the electronic document. The shame in your heart is reduced by half?"

Jonathan lowered his head and was silent for more than ten seconds before he said: "Actually, I still can't believe it. I am already worth tens of millions. All this is full of unreality. It always feels like a dream. Maybe one time I wake up , When I opened my eyes, I found that I was back in the garage two years ago, only Mickey and I were typing code happily and painfully in that summer."

"I will solve the problem of the garage. I will buy it for you and Mickey and give it to you as a Christmas gift, so that you can go back to nostalgia occasionally, but you have to satisfy me with the functional problems, realize those more efficient functions, and seize the market. " Jim looked at Jonathan: "That's it, tell me you can solve this problem as soon as possible?"

Jonathan nodded speechlessly: "I will try my best."

"It's not about trying your best. This is what you have to do." After Jim finished speaking, he picked up his coffee cup, got up, and walked towards the door: "Don't let me urge you again, Jonathan."

Jim was walking down the hallway, shaking his head, dealing with these tech founders, which was a real pain in the ass for him.

In the United States, it is very dangerous to be worth billions and have a bottom line of personality, which means that other rich people who have no bottom line will find a chance to swallow him sooner or later.

And now the Lotus company has two such wonderful existences, the two founders, and I have to do everything possible to ensure their safety, to prevent them from being swallowed by those businessmen who find an opportunity to digest their wealth, and then turn them into Two paupers pulled out.

"When I first joined Lotus, I was full of remorse for bullying those nerds in high school, but now..." Jim swayed towards his office with a coffee cup in his hand, talking to himself as he walked:

"God is fair, I have tortured nerds, so now arrange for me to guard nerds, this is definitely the most painful and desperate punishment for my abuser, I don't know if the ticket is booked, I'm going to play with California girls for a few days Let's vent the pressure."

...

Stanford Law School Legal Aid Center.

Stanford Law School is a graduate school, with very few undergrads hanging out here.

But the legal aid center here provides services to all Stanford students, where you can learn about the legal issues you want to figure out, and provide fast and convenient legal consultation services, and it is free.

Sophia O'Connor is a top student at Stanford University Law School. She comes to provide 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 be a bad person.

"Miss O'Connor, I would like to consult on the copyright law of Title 17 of the United States Code. I asked the legal counsel of my fraternity, but he couldn't answer me, so I am here." Tommy He said straight to the point to the woman wearing black-rimmed glasses in front of him.

Sophia nodded: "Of course there is no problem, but what I am curious about is that you have 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 will not explain too much A time consuming situation."

"Don't worry, it's a very simple question." Tommy said affirmatively, "Is computer software protected by copyright?"

Sophia said without thinking, "Of course, of course it's protected."

"That is, if I copy a software and make it exactly the same as the copied software, the other party will sue me, right?" Tommy continued.

Sophia frowned slightly: "Yes, you stumped the lawyer with this question? I suspect that he simply doesn't want to pay attention to you. Remember when I reminded you to make your explanation more concise?"

"Okay, the difficulty has increased. I changed the appearance of the software. For example, the one I copied wore a red dress, and my software wore a blue dress. Is it still protected?" Tommy nodded and smiled. asked.

Sophia still answered in the affirmative: "Of course, just because you changed your color, it won't change your plagiarism of that software."

"It's more difficult. Our two softwares are only written in the same C language, but the operations, menus, and structure levels all look different. Is it plagiarism?" Tommy asked Sophia.

"Although the copyright law does not have computer-related copyright regulations, but referring to past cases, yes." Sophia paused for a few seconds and gave her own answer.

Tommy became interested: "Refer to past cases, there is no relevant mature computer software copyright regulations, just refer to past cases? Another question, two cars, an American car was developed first, and a Japanese car was developed later. They are all family cars, everything else is different, are you sure the courts will rule that Japanese cars copy American cars?"

"...This question is actually a bit troublesome." Sophia pursed her lips. She needed to think of more intuitive words to solve this problem, but a few words obviously couldn't solve this problem.

Tommy continued: "That is to say, if American cars develop the function of driving forward first, Japanese cars will no longer be able to design the function of driving forward like American cars? If that is the case, American car companies have long since The car company is going to court, so think about it carefully, Miss O’Connor, what is the difference between the two software and these two cars? Why is it considered plagiarism?”

"...Well, this difficulty is indeed very high. I need to cross-check a lot of relevant legal provisions before I can answer you. If you are not in a hurry, maybe come back next week. I can give you some intuitive advice then?" Sophia Taking a deep breath, he gave his answer.

"No, there is one last question. I hope you will give me some ideas next week, that is, like the forward function of a car, should the function menu hierarchy of a software be counted as a software protected patent, or should it be counted as a patent? An unprotected method of operation as a service user." After Tommy finished speaking, he stood up, thanked Sophia, and prepared to leave.

Sophia saw that the other party finished the question, and immediately prepared to leave in a hurry, and asked subconsciously: "So, do you want it to be protected, or not?"

"Let's put it this way, ma'am, it doesn't matter to me whether I'm protected or not, I just want to know it, because I want to make sure that whichever side I'm on, it will be beneficial." Tommy turned to look at her, Walked out of the legal aid center with a smile.

The second update~~ Tomorrow's update may be the same as tonight, because there will be no time to code words during the day tomorrow~~ Let me tell you in advance, thank you everyone~