copyright / patent protection of apps??

[matteo]

Hi All,

I'm getting closer to releasing an app but I wanted to ask the people
of this group if they knew of any inherent copyright protections that
the app gets when it is released for sale on the app store? Can anyone
offer advice on protecting the IP that has been developed for an app?

Thanks,
Matt

[Radif Sharafullin]

Legalzoom.com does it for $140
Radif
http://itoursoftware.com

Sent from my iPhone

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[Jesse Tayler]

when you upload your binary to itunesconnect, there's a field provided to list your notice of copyright.

[Radif Sharafullin]

I don't think it automatically protects your app and ideas. It's just
a field to indicate who owns the copyrights to the app.

Radif
http://itoursoftware.com

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 23, 2009, at 1:05 PM, Jesse Tayler <jta...@netmodular.com>
wrote:

[Jesse Tayler]

well, there is nobody there to automatically protect your copyright, you must identify infringement and take action.

sometimes people confuse copyright with patent.

copyright refers to the right to publish, perform or record literary (or musical) material and legally authorize others wishing to profit via republishing such work, this does not include profit while using material for news or even lampooning.

patent refers to a governmental authority created to confer legal right to sell or use a specific process or device (something fabricated) to the inventor.

in the case of copyright infringement, you'll have to engage a lawyer, or defend yourself, but there is no way to provide any sort of automated protection on your behalf.

you can look up stuff about copyright defense, but basically you can pay a small fee to list your work as "copyrighted" and this could certainly be used to support any claims of ownership.

It is certainly possible to copyright software code, print out just the first 50 pages or so, and submit here:

http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First

Even still, it is you who must be active against infringement by taking legal action. Typically, this starts with a lawyer's letter demanding cease and desist for republishing unauthorized copyrighted literature.

Hope that helps

jess

[Jesse Tayler]

I don't mean to suggest that one must or even should pay to list copyrighted material - simply stating you have a copyright and being able and willing to defend your work is almost always plenty good enough -

I put "copyright 2009" at the bottom of most of my web pages, but of courser do not expect anyone to copy that writing and somehow profit from it.... so I have no need to submit it formally - if I record and sell a CD of songs, I would likely list that work more formally.