Nika2013
Rookie
- Banned
- #1
The Case of the Stolen Software Prototype: You Be the Judge
It was 2006, and the instructor of my Computer Information Systems class assigned a project:
“Design a computer project that would assist the University in a new and unique endeavor.”
Since it was a few weeks after the shootings at Virginia Tech, my project was an emergency response system utilizing multiple media format: cell-phone text messages to students, email messages to computers, kiosks with emergency data transferred by minute, a central website, all connected to the university’s public safety department and then to the local police. The design gave options on how to create the database of student information and how to relay the messages. It included a separate page at the kiosk for outside emergency links. Additionally, it presented a chain-of-command in an emergency. It included a step-by-step graphical representation for the process.
The instructor loved it! He said that it was one of the best project ideas and designs that he had ever seen. As it was an online class, my project ideas were emailed through Blackboard in increments and the full design completed on July 29.
The following May, the university initiated the exact emergency response system that it purchased from its sister university that had transferred the design to every university in the state. My college paid $40,000 for the initial design which was to be implemented in parts. Two others paid $120,000. I had emailed a copy of my project to the university president prior to the purchase.
FOLLOW-UP ON THE DESIGN
After the school activated the response system, I queried the president and the public safety department about the exact plan that I had created. The university refused to discuss it with me, but I obtained a copy of the contracts with all universities and an outside vendor under the Sunshine Act. The original negotiations with the vendor followed my design week-by-week with completion of negotiation one week after my submission. A clause in the contract between the university and vendor stated that vendor would not be responsible for copyright infringement if information had been taken from another person. (I find this telling)
The project went statewide from university to elementary schools and then across the US garnering millions of dollars and at this point is international. The woman who was the vendor president is now a very wealthy woman. I traced the background of her company and it had less than $50,000 at the time of the contract. It was not registered to do business in my state. None of the entities involved would speak with me about the prototype.
Give your position as a judge in this case. I seriously would like thoughtful feed-back on the issue...Thank you (and let's be nice
It was 2006, and the instructor of my Computer Information Systems class assigned a project:
“Design a computer project that would assist the University in a new and unique endeavor.”
Since it was a few weeks after the shootings at Virginia Tech, my project was an emergency response system utilizing multiple media format: cell-phone text messages to students, email messages to computers, kiosks with emergency data transferred by minute, a central website, all connected to the university’s public safety department and then to the local police. The design gave options on how to create the database of student information and how to relay the messages. It included a separate page at the kiosk for outside emergency links. Additionally, it presented a chain-of-command in an emergency. It included a step-by-step graphical representation for the process.
The instructor loved it! He said that it was one of the best project ideas and designs that he had ever seen. As it was an online class, my project ideas were emailed through Blackboard in increments and the full design completed on July 29.
The following May, the university initiated the exact emergency response system that it purchased from its sister university that had transferred the design to every university in the state. My college paid $40,000 for the initial design which was to be implemented in parts. Two others paid $120,000. I had emailed a copy of my project to the university president prior to the purchase.
FOLLOW-UP ON THE DESIGN
After the school activated the response system, I queried the president and the public safety department about the exact plan that I had created. The university refused to discuss it with me, but I obtained a copy of the contracts with all universities and an outside vendor under the Sunshine Act. The original negotiations with the vendor followed my design week-by-week with completion of negotiation one week after my submission. A clause in the contract between the university and vendor stated that vendor would not be responsible for copyright infringement if information had been taken from another person. (I find this telling)
The project went statewide from university to elementary schools and then across the US garnering millions of dollars and at this point is international. The woman who was the vendor president is now a very wealthy woman. I traced the background of her company and it had less than $50,000 at the time of the contract. It was not registered to do business in my state. None of the entities involved would speak with me about the prototype.
Give your position as a judge in this case. I seriously would like thoughtful feed-back on the issue...Thank you (and let's be nice
Last edited:
