Suspicion of Theft of Intellectual Property

[acidrain]

I would just like to find out about the legalities of this, is it worth pursuing or not?

The specific property in question is my companies Health and Safety Plan. We initially did a job for a sign maker at Newlands Stadium, who themselves were unable to do it as they lacked Health and Safety Compliance, so we were sub-contracted.

The file was compiled and then handed to the safety officer. The owner of the sign company then went, without our knowledge, to the safety officer and requested the file giving reasons that it was for their records. Obviously we pursued this when we found out but he was adamant that it was just for record purposes.

We have since come up against them for a sign in claremont and in the end wasn't awarded the contract due to them being able to fabricate and install where we would just install.

We requested a copy of their safety plan citing suspicion and so far doing some comparisons, there are snippets which are word for word. The problem now comes is the person who "copied" the document has re-arranged as well as worded things in such a manner that you cant say without a doubt that it is a copy of the original however there are snippets that are exactly word for word.

Just to add onto the legality side of our document, the following footer is shown:

No part of this proposal may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written approval of [Company].... etc

 

[deweyzeph]

It sucks that they stole your wording, but to pursue this in court is going to cost you potentially hundreds of thousands of rands. Is it really worth it?

 

[acidrain]

To me, given the adjustments/re-arrangements they made and the inability to conclusively prove that it is a copy, it probably doesn't make it worth it as like you said it could end up costing a lot more if the court finds in favor of them, which is a likely possibility.

It just upsets me to no degree to see such low levels of professionalism and business ethics.

 

[deweyzeph]

To me, given the adjustments/re-arrangements they made and the inability to conclusively prove that it is a copy, it probably doesn't make it worth it as like you said it could end up costing a lot more if the court finds in favor of them, which is a likely possibility.

It just upsets me to no degree to see such low levels of professionalism and business ethics.

Even if the court finds in your favour there's no guarantee that it will award costs to you. You could end up spending a lot of money just to prove a point.

 

[Ianf1]

Send them an invoice for use of your file. Then see what happens.

 

[Fudzy]

Is it not the standard OHSAS stuff?

 

[Fulcrum29]

Is it not the standard OHSAS stuff?

Yah, I also had this notion.

@ acidrain

How are your plans (policies) unique opposed to the standard regulations?

We have pretty much unique ICT policies and I can google snippets ending up with results in the hundreds, the unique part have to do with IT environment standards per case which is customised per the required solution.

I only want to know what sets your policy to be classed as an IP?

 

[acidrain]

Send them an invoice for use of your file. Then see what happens.

Tried that but they refused to make any compensation based on the fact that it has been retained purely for records.

Is it not the standard OHSAS stuff?

The safety plan is specific to each business based on their operations ( at least ours is ). It is basically a plan outlining how you will ensure the that you comply with the OHS Act while working on a project ( through procedures and such )

 

[Fulcrum29]

The safety plan is specific to each business based on their operations ( at least ours is ).

Ah cool, like ours then.

Did the other company correctly approach the customer in Claremont in relation with the appropriate plan, or did they recycle the old plan to be used with any operation, as I assume per your suspicion?

 

[acidrain]

Ah cool, like ours then.

Did the other company correctly approach the customer in Claremont in relation with the appropriate plan, or did they recycle the old plan to be used with any operation, as I assume per your suspicion?

The suspicion is they used our plan ( whether completely or just as reference ) to be used for their purposes. Looking further into the file that was sent to me, there are other discrepancies in it such as their CR8.7 being designated with the duties of fire fighting.

As pointed out though, the parts that have been "copied" are so slight, if looking at the plan as a whole, that I felt it wasn't worth taking forward, which seems to be the consensus. I just thought to view other opinions in case I might have been wrong in thinking to leave it. If they did, whoever did is very good at re-wording things.

I only want to know what sets your policy to be classed as an IP?

Surely if you pay for specific documentation that has been customized for your business / operations, it therefore becomes IP else whats the point in hiring HSE consultants ( which if he's worth his salt, does not come cheap )

 

[Ianf1]

Tried that but they refused to make any compensation based on the fact that it has been retained purely for records.

JAT tell them good as there may be a fatal flaw in the plan and you are getting it checked out.
See if that rattles them.