> >The document is still copyrighted, but the information in it once published
> >to the world (eg by anon ftp) is in must jurisdictions no longer a trade
> >secret.
> A bit tricky I think, the ftp site requests for a supplied password:
> 220- I2O Sig Temporary Download Directory
> 220- Log in as "i2o" with a password supplied by Michael Lobue.
> 220- You are currently user 10 out of a maximum 10 users.
> A claim that the anonymous ftp is a configuration error could be valid I think.
> If so the stuff still is a trade secret.
> It is however an example of a document that should be free. I think it should
> be distributed together with a sample implementation, eg. Linux.
No. A trade secret is a lot like virginity. Once it's lost its lost.
Doesn't much matter the reason or the method. RSA lost the trade secret on
RC4 once the code got out (or was reverse engineered depending upon who you
believe). They couldn't cry foul and make everybody forget. They could
claim patent and copyright and all of that type stuff, but trade secret is
the most ephemeral of all of the intellectual property rights. It's up to
you to protect it and if it's lost, you have no recourse to regain it, even
if you have legal, actionable, leverage against the parties who have revealed
it. In this case, if it was their screw-up, some manager may have a new
hairless rug in his office tommorrow morning, but the trade secret is gone
forever.
> Chel
Mike
-- Michael H. Warfield | (770) 985-6132 | mhw@WittsEnd.com (The Mad Wizard) | (770) 925-8248 | http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/ NIC whois: MHW9 | An optimist believes we live in the best of all PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471 | possible worlds. A pessimist is sure of it!