"If you publish computer software, the single most important legal protection available to you is the federal copyright law." [1]
A lawyer I am friends with has been telling me that there is a real need for tech companies to copyright their code. Additionally, he said a big problem is how few companies are even aware this is the proper legal approach to protecting your assets.
We decided to create a service to make registering copyrights for tech companies as easy as possible. We take you step by step through a quick set of questions and we explain everything in plain language, that any non-lawyer can understand. Our goal is to save you $1000s in lawyer fees and avoid the pain of attempting to navigate a federal government website that looks to have been created in the 90s.
If code is your company's most valuable asset, make the best decision and buy the cheapest insurance to protect it.
P.S. We just recently launched, so would love feedback as well.
I visited your website and the first thing I noticed is that you do not enforce HTTPS.
I hadn't thought about that. Just looking into it briefly, seems like a change I could make this weekend as well. Thanks.
Cool service
Probably it's just me but I hate to give my email without knowing the pricing.
@Honeysyed We just pushed a new version with pricing on the landing page. Thanks again.
Yes, that is literally the first thing on my list to add for this weekend. We don't show the price until you are asked to pay for it. Not a good plan.
As a potential target user, I'm interested, but not convinced enough to follow up on the CTA. I'd suggest making it more clear what a copyright is and why. Some questions I have circling in my head when reading the copy:
Thank you so much for taking the time to look at the site and give the feedback. You really do need a diverse set of eyes on your product. I never even considered the relationship, overlap, and potential confusion that licensing could bring into the equation.
(Please understand I am no expert in licensing and noncompetes. :) I'm the 'tech guy.')
A license is a contract/agreement between two parties. Whereas a copyright is general protection against any party that would steal your code. I believe you are referring to adding a license file or agreement in your code or flow. This seems very similar to a copyright in some regards, but you lose out on the legal protections and options that are specifically granted to registered copyright holders. A registered copyright gives you distinct legal options, such as allowing you to bring an immediate injunction and bring lawsuit right away. You also may sue for "statutory damages" which is only possible if you have registered the copyright before the infringement. In the case of a license, you can only sue for "breach of contract."
You should copyright all of your code that you want protect against theft/infringement. So, both your web and app code. What you do not copyright are things like executables and binaries. Think of the copyright as protecting the parts that you and your team authored 'by hand.'
Similar to the licensing, the non-compete is only a contract between two parties. It only gives protection between the two parties that sign it and it only affords you the option of suing for breach of contract. You will not be able to sue for statutory damages and will not be able to bring an immediate injunction.
Copyrighting is truly the easier, softer way. Judges understand them, there are special legal options afforded to those who register their copyrights ahead of time, and they are inexpensive and easy to register through CodeRegi. :)
Hope that clears up the questions and I will get with my partners to see how we can fold your feedback into your landing page.
Gotcha, thanks for detailed response. That all makes sense. But for me, it doesn't pass the 'so what?' test. Yes, copyrighting would give me more protection. But is it so necessary that I drop what I'm doing to build the business and worry about this? I'm not convinced. I don't like dealing with lawyers, but I also don't wanna sign up for another SaaS that I might never need.
Just like most insurance, you would rather pay for it and never need it. But, you are happy if the time comes, that you do have it. Like lots of ideas and products, there are some that this will resonate immediately (the early adopters) . Once it gains some "critical mass" of adoption, it will become a no-brainer, that everyone copyrights their code. I can see it becoming a requirement in due diligence for investors and in acquisitions.
Thanks again, I really appreciate the feedback.
How much FOSS did you use to build this project?