Learn about the multiprocessing version of CodeSuite.

Over the years I’ve run into expert witnesses and attorneys who have told me about software copyright infringement cases where the only clues that copying occurred were patterns of spaces and tabs (“whitespace”). We set out to rigorously test this method.

SAFE Corporation is looking for partners in academia and industry to create a database of purposely plagiarized code to be known as the Depository of Universal Plagiarism Examples or DUPE. Plagiarism detection programs would be run on DUPE to determine which programs best detected copying. Statistics about plagiarized code would be gathered in order to improve the plagiarism detection programs.

There were a number of large lawsuits involving software IP in 2009. We know that CodeSuite was used in many of them (because of protective orders, we don’t know all the cases where CodeSuite was used).

When a legal case is argued in front of a jury, both sides’ experts present their facts and the truth becomes apparent, right? Of course not–if it were that simple, experts and lawyers would not have much to do.

If you have a research idea relating to code analysis, and you can use the SAFE tools, let us know. If your proposal passes our review process you’ll get free licenses to our tools, free support, and help getting your results published.

The precise language that legally defines a trade secret varies by jurisdiction, as do the particular types of information that are subject to trade secret protection. In the United States, different states have different trade secret laws. Most states have adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, and those that don’t, have laws that only differ by subtle differences.

Copyrights protect expressions of ideas, but not the ideas themselves. Software can be reverse engineered to learn the ideas it embodies without violating the copyright, as long as the code is not copied and used commercially. The first lawsuit verdict that enforced this idea was Atari Games v. Nintendo in September 1992.

First, a copyright exists at the moment of creation. In other words, a work does not need to be published to have a copyright. The copyright does not need to be registered with the U.S. Copyright office. It is simply a right given to the person who created the work. The advantage of registering a copyright with the government is that you then have an official document proving your ownership, making it easier to win in court against someone who attempts to use your creation without your permission.

You have the source code from two different programs. You run them through CodeMatch and find high correlation numbers. Have you proven copying? Not yet. There are still a few steps to go through first.