Hi! I''ve got a Java application that enables people to play a published board game over the Internet. The application is not in its final polished form (I''m not even exactly sure what that will be); but is at the point where it is usable, and the president of the company that publishes the game is interested in the program (it''s a small boardgame company, by the way), and would like me to send him a copy of what I''ve got. If he likes what he sees, the plan would be to send copies of the prototype out to playtesters to identify bugs and incorrectly handled rules (this game is rather complex). My question is this: what legal steps must I take to protect myself before I go ahead and send what I''ve got so far out to other people? There are no revolutionary ideas about my program or the features in it. I am not concerned about someone seeing my idea, and then copying it for themselves. I am simply concerned that someone might take my work and pass it on as their own, either as is or through reverse engineering. Do I need to reach some kind of legal agreement witht the president of the company? If so, must it be in writing, or is a Cyber-agreement of some sort necessary? When sending it to playtesters, is there some sort of text file that I should include that outlines what they may and may not do with the program? Thanks in advance for your help!

I don't know if it's enough, and if it could help but :

1. You can write a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and he will have to sign it to agree with not publishing without your agreement and not saying anything about this (you can find some template documents about that on internet)... And all people concerned will have to sign it...

2. You could add some protection on your program like a banner, or just some text lines on the screen which could display "THIS IS A DEMO IT CAN'T BE SOLD, RELEASED (OR SOMETHING ELSE)" ... something like that ! and don't forget to protect your strings variables in your source before compiling (to avoid ASCII replacements while editing your applet in binary mode...)

3. Don't give any of your sources...

and so on ...

I hope it'll help.

Edited by - brunow on March 12, 2002 4:47:35 PM

In the US, this usually holds up in court...

Put your program on a disk, and seal it in an envelope. Go to a notary public, and have him/her affix their seal across the envelope, such that it can''t be opened without disrupting the seal. Also have them sign and date the envelope.

If anyone tries to steal your program, get a lawyer and sue them. They will have to prove that they had the program before the date on your envelope (which will be impossible, of course.)

You want him (her, whatever) to sign a NDA. Get one off the web, or copy Microsoft''s.

Thanks a lot, everyone, for your quick response and helpful advice. I had already looked for some NDAs on the Internet, and was quickly overwhelmed by the various ones out there--however, I couldn''t find any that seemed like it was the right one for me. Can anyone point me to something specific?

Thanks again!