Re: Cherokee Nation Posts Open Source Legisation - Invites comments from Community Members

[christos gentsis <christos_gentsis@yahoo.co.uk>]

Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu wrote:
> On Thu, 06 Jan 2005 12:37:25 CST, root said:
> 
> 
>>It's based on the design of the license.  Under Cherokee Nation Law, you
>>can have and claim trade secrets in public code released under a public
>>license.  This makes it very easy for individual contributors to 
>>enforce their rights in the US.  We spent months researching this, and yes,
>>it holds up under our laws.  
> 
> 
> You will have trouble with "rights in the US", because of the definition of
> "trade secret" includes 18 USC 1839 (3):
> 
> (3) the term "trade secret" means all forms and types of financial,
> business, scientific, technical, economic, or engineering information,
> including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas, designs,
> prototypes, methods, techniques, processes, procedures, programs, or codes,
> whether tangible or intangible, and whether or how stored, compiled, or
> memorialized physically, electronically, graphically, photographically, or in
> writing if --
> 
> (A) the owner thereof has taken reasonable measures to keep such information secret; and
> 
> (B) the information derives independent economic value, actual or potential,
> from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable through
> proper means by, the public; and
> 
> You'll have a hard time convincing a jury not on the reservation that publishing
> something as open source is at all a "reasonable measure to keep it secret".
> 
> In fact, you're going to have a hard time - if you're not a sovereign nation,
> then 18 USC 1839 will trump your law.  And if you *are* a sovereign nation,
> you better get some lobbyists that can read and understand the implications
> of 19 USC 2242(a)(1)(A) and/or 19 USC 2242(b)(1).....

hello all

sorry about this question but i didn't understand something in all this 
"trade secret" situation...

first: Is there any impact in GNU GPL?

second: does this US law means that everything could be a "trade 
secret"? even something like the  GUI? or a process bar? and in case 
that someone will register them what is going to happens?

third: this under US law, is it applied in EU etc????

thanks for your time
Christos