[Biojava-l] How to share code while protecting copyrights?

[Pjotr Prins]

Is that idea of getting scooped realistic?

All my code is online, that is my scientific track record, next to my
papers.

Online OSS code may bring benefits when other people find bugs, or
even improve things. I don't worry about getting scooped. First it is
easy to prove it is mine, exactly because it is out in the open, and
second it takes more than plain old code to get something published in
a journal.

In the rare case an idea is so sensitive and easy to copy, you can
publish it with some part missing.

I think too much code sits on planks gathering dust, just because
people have these worries. It is old school. We are in the business
of moving science forward - writing beautiful tools. Nothing less.

Pj.

On Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 11:48:32AM -0700, Andreas Prlic wrote:
> > Forgive me for being pessimistic, but I do not believe you can
> > publically distribute your code without running the risk of being
> > scooped.  Mark's suggestions are very good; however, the safest route
> > would be to withhold distribution of your code until your work is
> > published (or at very least accepted).