The 9th Circuit Court has made so many irrational decisions but this is right up there.  They ignore the fact that Goldman spent millions developing this for competitive value for an American company.

I am shocked the court does not know the difference between downloading something that is meant to be down loaded like a YouTube video or a Blog versus something that was deemed a Trade Secret. 

What about copyright law? Is Code any different than a novel or a piece of music? A person of talent developed this code using unique skills and hundreds of hours of work and computer time. The investment has now been rendered useless if every other trading firm can run the same program for free that Goldman paid for.

Are patents now rendered useless? The California Courts are all over the place as they ruled that other restaurants cannot use the word Tabola in their name, as Francis Ford Coppola patented that word, which is really just the Italian word for "Table" and that is silly.  Maybe we should all apply to patent one word each of the Italian language and thus deny the world the use of the language.  How silly is that? 

But if we spend a life time developing a software program, then California would rule it is free for anyone to steal.  Where is the consistency? Where were the young law clerks to educate these Justices about the difference between downloading information such as web site trade information a company wishes to disseminate; versus stealing intellectual property meant to be secret.  Especially if the person doing it is a paid employee with an expectation of non-disclosure.  Does this ruling set aside all "Non-Disclosure Agreements" as well as you can bet this employee had to sign one to work at Goldman.


Hugh Smith
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