Protecting your material.

[ashe]

It's especially difficult for those in software or digital fields where the copy of the copy is just as good as the original - not just piracy though, but good open source and/or free software that is not stolen.

the trick is what you do with it. it's expertise that matters not the tool. same applies to martial arts.

[ppscat]

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Too much talk about money IMO, and nothing about protecting your material for the honor of your lineage, school, style.

Once you have a critical mass of good students, students attract more students. Then, you don't care that much about protecting your material, nor you would be able to. 70% of the secret stuff is in the basic exercises. Any smart guy from other school could easily pick up a big part of your stuff in probably a semester.

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[everything]

It's especially difficult for those in software or digital fields where the copy of the copy is just as good as the original - not just piracy though, but good open source and/or free software that is not stolen.

the trick is what you do with it. it's expertise that matters not the tool. same applies to martial arts.

definitely true. as google economist hal varian says, the wine is more important than the bottle. except of course the tool and art seller/creator/lineage holder may have another view. and the bottle and oak casket may actually add value to the wine. google's business is about making the wine accessible via a sophisticated bottle.

[johnwang]

Does anybody know whether the following are legal or not?

- You download music from internet and then burn your own CD. If you just listen that CD at home, who is going to complain?
- You use "Jad decompiler" to decompile Java bytecode files (*.class) back to Java source files (*.java). You then modify the .java file and sell as a different product? How can you prove that the new product was a stolen and modified copy?

[everything]

1. it depends.
2. it depends.

[johnwang]

Depend on what?

There are lots of free music downloads tools that are available online and they all said "100% legal".

By using the "Jad decompiler" to decompile Java bytecode files (*.class) back to Java source files (*.java). You then search with certain keywords and remove certain classes from the Java file, recompile it and get the new class file and send to customer.

This was one of my patent that I can customarize a product if a customer only want to buy certain function but not the other. But in this case, I'm decompile the Jave code that I develop myself. It just make me think, How can I prevent others from doing this?

[everything]

I thought the only prevention was terms in the license saying you cannot decompile or reverse engineer.

For the first case, itunes has "digital rights protection" or something like that limiting your use and number of "authorized" computers. Effectively, it seems mainly a negotiating chip for the music industry. Amazon's mp3 sales do not include these usage limitations.

[everything]

.
Too much talk about money IMO, and nothing about protecting your material for the honor of your lineage, school, style.

Once you have a critical mass of good students, students attract more students. Then, you don't care that much about protecting your material, nor you would be able to. 70% of the secret stuff is in the basic exercises. Any smart guy from other school could easily pick up a big part of your stuff in probably a semester.
.

if it's not about money or critical mass, there is no issue here. just teach very select few. if it is about critical mass or money, why would that smart guy train there? probably due to the people and training environment as well as the secret stuff.

[Bao]

The trouble is about getting serious students who can spread the art, not about protecting it.

[Chris McKinley]

To be extra childish about it (and to hopefully drive home the point once and for all), my plain old ordinary non-secret-but-well-honed fighting skills will smoke your super-duper-only-my-family-knows-about-it "secret" techniques even on a bad day, and twice on Sundays. If you can't fight, you won't beat me....it doesn't matter what "secret" move you've been shown. So there...nanny nanny boo boo.

[somatai]

The trouble is about getting serious students who can spread the art, not about protecting it.

bingo....doesn't matter if people try and rip as long as there are those who can do it proper and make the posers look like posers

[BruceP]

There are lots of training methods and ideas I don't talk about. When I do, I'm vague enough that my ideas get passed over as jib-jab most of the time. Pedants and dictionary goofs blind themselves with semantic acid. I try to make my pearls look like turds.

Some folks get it and I don't make claim to anything when they do. I encourage them to take ownership and to make their own truth from my lies.

[everything]

how about making students learn a really long form heh heh

[johnwang]

I have told this story before. The prey mantis master Zhang Xiang San 張詳三 only taught his 7 star PM and never taught his 6 harmony PM (LHPM). Onetime he almost died in hostiple. When he was in hostiple, he dreamed about his teacher blamed on him not passing down his 6 harmony PM art. After he got out of hostiple, he "begged" Adam Hsu to study his 6 harmony PM. Adam told him, "Sorry! I just don't have the time."

[edededed]

novice students go out and demonstrate what they thought they learned to others,

One of my LF brothers went to Wutang and watched people trained in Xiao Baji. Next week my friend taught that Xiao Baji form to a group of elders for health only.

In the 1st Jinan TCMA tournament, I saw Su Yu Chang demonstrated Da Baiji form. Next year in the 2nd Jinan TCMA tournament, I demonstrated that Dai Baiji form and also the PM Luan Jia form (Su Yu Chang's trade mark form). After my demonstration, Su Yu Chang walked toward me and said, "You just did my forms."

We LF guys love to "steal" - Mine is mine, yours is also mine.

Ha ha... I think "Jaian" (from Doraemon) said that...