Automating a commercial strategy

[jvracing]

I have a question about intellectual property and copyright law. Does anyone have experience in this area?

I have purchased a commercial manual system, and the rules are mechanical enough for it to be programmed into an EA. I am in the process of having this done now.

My question is what the legalities are of me then selling this EA? I have added quite a bit to the original rules. Probably at least 50%, and probably more, of the current strategy is rules that I have added or changed.

Does anyone see a problem with this? Is it against copyright laws? What are the laws and regulations about if you change something and make it your own? I've heard that if you change a copyrighted work by at least 20%, then it's yours. Is that true?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.


Josh

 

[Pharaoh]

Legally, that's thin ice you would be skating on. Lawyers can be expensive, but losing an intellectual property lawsuit would be more expensive, so I'd recommend double-checking with a lawyer who specializes in this sort of thing.

The fact that you've added a bunch of rules would weigh in your favor. The fact that it's based on someone else's copyrighted work would weigh against you. Percentage changes for something "inspired" by someone else's original work can get a little dicey in a courtroom, so make sure you've got a copy of the code that clearly documents what rules came from where.

There is one other option. Set up an account to trade it. Send the account info and investor password to the person who wrote the system it's based on so that he can see how well it works. Tell him what you've done and that you would like to either pay a reasonable royalty or else form a partnership with him. If he agrees on a royalty, leave it up to him whether the marketing of your EA version discloses the relationship between the EA and his system or not. Obviously, don't tell him the exact nature of your additional rules until you have some sort of workable agreement hammered out.

 

[jvracing]

Thanks a lot for your input Pharaoh. Very helpful!