kaled - 10:14 pm on Feb 21, 2005 (gmt 0)

If two programmers are developing a solution for a specific problem without knowing each other, they both own the copyright of their own work and they both get paid for their own sweat and tears. However, if the first of them was smart enough to get a patent for his work, the second programmer cannot sell his piece of software without first settling an agreement with the other.

Thus, copyright is the fairest system to protect software rather than patents. HOWEVER, reverse engineering, etc. should be treated as a breach of copyright.

It's very easy to demonstrate whether two similar ideas have been developed independently, you just look at all the old code - assuming people keep old backups, etc.

Kaled.