OT: litigation - source code viewer?

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Hi
Our company is in the process of some litigation. Our president heard of a product (but doesn't know the name) that allows someone to view the source code but not copy it. This way an idependant arbitrator could view our source code but couldn't make an electronic copy of it. I have no idea but thought someone might know something.
 
If you're talking about .NET Assemblies,you can use Ildasm.exe to see the IL
of non-obfuscated assemblies. You can use something like Salamander to view
many things that have been obfuscated as well.

HTH,

Bill

--
W.G. Ryan MVP Windows - Embedded

http://forums.devbuzz.com
http://www.knowdotnet.com/dataaccess.html
http://www.msmvps.com/williamryan/
nic said:
Hi,
Our company is in the process of some litigation. Our president heard of
Click to expand...
a product (but doesn't know the name) that allows someone to view the source
code but not copy it. This way an idependant arbitrator could view our
source code but couldn't make an electronic copy of it. I have no idea but
thought someone might know something.
 
Thanks for the suggestion, but I guess I didn't explain myself well

We need to provide our source code to an independent arbitrator. They will need to review the source code but we don't want them making copies of it. We want some media where a person can read the text but not make electronic copies. How do other companies provide source code when in legal disputes?
 
They provide the source code.

I'm not a lawyer, I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night,
but.....

It would be a serious breach of ethics, if not law, for an arbitrator to use
the code (evidence) for anything other than the matter at hand.

What does your lawyer say?

Bob Lehmann

nic said:
Thanks for the suggestion, but I guess I didn't explain myself well.

We need to provide our source code to an independent arbitrator. They
Click to expand...
will need to review the source code but we don't want them making copies of
it. We want some media where a person can read the text but not make
electronic copies. How do other companies provide source code when in legal
disputes?
 
I don't even begin to claim to have any qualifications in this regard, but I
have seen/used etc Adobe Acrobat that 1) Makes you enter a special code to
enter the document. I was told that you can set a feature that requires two
codes, one for you and one for the other party so both need to be present -
I haven't seen this part done though so can't verify it. But the first part
w/ password protecion is how my student loan bills come every month for
example and nothing all that out of the ordinary (password protecting stuff
isn't anything new or exciting)
2) It can prevent you from Saving or printing and I believe you can expire
the time it can be opened.

Not sure if this is what you need, almost seems like old school paper copies
would do it.

I don't think though, that you can totally prevent any chance of it. I
mean, It would be highly improper for an arbitrator to do anything like this
and you'd have some recourse, but then again, s**t happens and being able to
sue them isn't necessary going to make anything better if stuff goes wrong.
but if they are committed to doing this, there are a lot of ways they could
do it, just look at braindumps and all the measure companies take to prevent
that stuff from happening. I think just making it as hard as possible would
do it, and if that feature I was told about exists, then it's probably
breakable but would certainly make things more difficult.

Probably should defer to a lawyer on this one and keep asking around..I'm
sure you aren't the first company to be in this situation and there's a lot
more knowledgeable than me. If I find anything though, I'll let you know.

--
W.G. Ryan MVP Windows - Embedded

http://forums.devbuzz.com
http://www.knowdotnet.com/dataaccess.html
http://www.msmvps.com/williamryan/
nic said:
Thanks for the suggestion, but I guess I didn't explain myself well.

We need to provide our source code to an independent arbitrator. They
Click to expand...
will need to review the source code but we don't want them making copies of
it. We want some media where a person can read the text but not make
electronic copies. How do other companies provide source code when in legal
disputes?
 
Even if you could find such a viewer, what would stop the "arbitrator" from
making screen captures (which is frankly something I could see them doing)?
If your "arbitrator" has no ethics in this issue, indeed, if you do not
TRUST your arbitrator, you need another arbitrator. Period.

nic said:
Thanks for the suggestion, but I guess I didn't explain myself well.

We need to provide our source code to an independent arbitrator. They
Click to expand...
will need to review the source code but we don't want them making copies of
it. We want some media where a person can read the text but not make
electronic copies. How do other companies provide source code when in legal
disputes?
 
I recently went through the same thing. I had to supply my source
code to two expert witnesses, one hired by our company, and one hired
by the opposing company. Needless to say, there was no concern with
the guy we hired, he was loyal to us - at least as long as we paid
him.

But we were very concerned about giving the code to the other
company's expert. We had to do it, but first:

1. We made sure he signed a NDA
2. We had our lawyer change the arrangements so that we delivered the
source directly to the expert witness, and he returned it directly to
our lawyer - so that it never passed through the hands of the opposing
company or their lawyer.
3. We reviewed the credentials of their expert to be sure he was a
professional in the business of being an expert witness. (He would be
far less likely to do something unethical if it could cause him
problems with future business.)

It all went OK, but it was scary!

Don't know if this helps, but may give you some ideas. I doubt there
is any way to prevent copying short of making the guy do his work
while you are present and removing the source when you leave - and the
court will not enforce such a request.

Regards, Russ
 
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