Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 254 New Events, Old Solutions

Sometimes the idea is beautiful, but the reality is very bleak. Even though Ethan hoped that the party could end as soon as possible, after their opponents fell and all parties were full, those happy guys still made a fuss until late at night.

Since the theme of the party was Ethan's bragging, it was difficult for Ethan to force everyone to leave and hit the smiling man when everyone was praising him. Therefore, he could only accompany them.

After waiting for the party to be over and letting the staff settle the guys who had eaten and drunk their fill, Ethan and Evelyn set out on their way home. When the two drunken guys arrived in Palo Alto, it was already four o'clock in the morning. After a quick wash and getting into bed, it was already daybreak.

This situation made Ethan sleep until two in the afternoon. If Steve Ballmer hadn't called to tell him that the guests invited to the dinner had already left on the special plane, he would probably have slept for a few more hours.

Yawning and asking about Barbara's whereabouts, Ethan learned that the great wizard who had rested in San Francisco last night had already started his journey back home. He wanted to stay in bed for a while, but he immediately jumped up, asked the bodyguard to prepare lunch, and took a quick shower. When Barbara arrived, he was already waiting in the living room.

"Oh Ethan, it looks like you had a good rest..."

Barbara said with a smile: "Very energetic."

"no way."

Ethan shrugged. “Who makes the next thing more important than the release of the movie?”

"Hmm." Barbara said with the tip of her nose. She looked around and said, "Where's Evelyn?"

"I drank too much and had a headache. It hasn't started yet."

"Then let's just talk about it?"

"can."

As she spoke, Barbara opened her purse and took out a thick volume of the United States Code, which read Volume 17, Copyright.

The wizard flipped through the book casually, found the folded page, and handed it to Ethan.

With a clear look, Ethan saw the words marked by the great wizard -

[When a copyrighted work is copied, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or used to create derivative works without the copyright owner's permission, these actions constitute infringement. ]

There is a note at the end of the text: Revised in 1976.

Ethan didn't understand and just looked up.

While he was looking at Barbara with doubt, Barbara took out a stack of documents from her handbag and pushed them in front of Ethan. The cover of the first document read:

【Data relation model of large shared database】

Author: Edgar Codd

The cover of the second document reads:

[SEQUEL: Structured English Query Language]

【Author: Donald Chamberlain, Raymond Boyce】

As Ethan was flipping through the pages, Barbara smiled and said, "Ethan, after I listened to Evelyn's full description of the incident, I discovered a problem. There was nothing illegal about Don Valentine and Nolan Bushnell's investment in the software research lab, and the company's founder, Larry Ellison, has not shown any abnormal behavior of violating the law so far."

"So, their attack on you, or Steve Ross's possible plot, are all normal business practices. So far, they should not have violated the law."

"In this case, it would be difficult to attack them with the weapon of law. But after I spent some time collecting all the relevant information, I found that the case you wanted me to handle was very interesting."

"What is interesting here is not the case itself, but the relationship between the parties behind the case."

Ethan looked up.

He shook the two documents Barbara had found and asked, "They?"

"Yes." Barbara nodded and said, "If we want to explain the whole incident clearly, we have to start from the first document. Edgar Codd was a scientist from England who participated in World War II. After the war, he came to America and settled in New York."

"The first company he joined was IBM, and the project he participated in was SSEC, an electromechanical computer project and the last large-scale computer in human history."

"After completing that project, he participated in the development of IBM 701 and 702, which were IBM's first and second commercial scientific computers. However, he did not participate in the entire process because he left America in before the research was completed. As for the reason..."

The Archmage stretched out his voice.

Ethan recalled the story his sister had told him before, "Is it related to Oppenheimer?"

"Yes, it's about Oppenheimer."

Barbara sighed and said, "Because Oppenheimer was persecuted."

"In order to support Oppenheimer, Einstein directly occupied the front page of the New York Times and wrote an article criticizing Washington. Scientists like Edgar Codd, who were capable but not as famous as Einstein, helped Oppenheimer with practical actions."

"Many people dropped their research and left America."

"If the persecution continues, they would rather die together."

"It is precisely because these scientists were so courageous back then, and dared to confront our government head-on and refused to back down, that now no one dares to provoke these scientists who are really banding together."

"This incident also made Edgar Codd realize a problem. There is no group in this world that can be truly loyal to. All groups are brought together because of the same interests. When a group fights within because of interests, the group loses the original meaning of its establishment."

"So, even though he later returned to America and IBM, he no longer published papers with constructive opinions. All his articles were circulated within IBM."

Here Barbara paused.

His eyes were filled with amusement and his gaze was twinkling with smile.

And Ethan...

He lowered his head and found the paper by Edgar Codd.

After staring at it for a moment, he held it up and said, "So this paper is actually IBM's internal document?"

"That's right." Barbara nodded with a smile.

Ethan's eyes gradually brightened.

"Barbara, are you saying that Larry Ellison plagiarized IBM's research?"

"This is just a guess at the moment. I can only say it's possible."

"Because this paper was first published in 1970, it was not a public paper, and Larry Ellison happened to be working at IBM at the time."

"At the same time, Larry Ellison told the CIA that he had seen this paper in 1976, which led to the idea of ​​Oracle."

"Although IBM did publish the paper publicly in 1976, if IBM had not published the paper publicly, Oracle might not exist, right?"

Barbara winked at Ethan and said, "Do you understand what I mean?"

Of course Ethan understood what the Archmage meant!
When Edgar Codd lost confidence in the American government because of Oppenheimer's experience and was unwilling to show everything to the outside world without reservation, the papers he published inside IBM became IBM's trade secrets! If others dared to use them at will, it would be an infringement in the legal sense!
Although IBM published Edgar Codd's paper in 1976, this does not prove that Larry Ellison had not studied relational databases as an outsider before 1976. In other words, when Larry Ellison boldly stated that he could develop the database that the CIA wanted with only a small amount of funding...

He must have copied it!
He was secretly using IBM's internal data before IBM published the paper!

Otherwise, how could IBM publish the paper in 1976, and Larry Ellison dare to tell the CIA that it would succeed in 1977? And submit the results in 1979? Who gave him the courage? Fish Leong?

You know, Larry Ellison is not a scientist who graduated from a prestigious university!
All his techniques are self-taught!

How could he say that this would be accomplished within a year when he had not undergone any systematic training?

What about other scientists?

Waste?
More importantly, he is not the same as Steve Wozniak!
At least that little fat boy Wozniacki has a good dad!

As soon as scientific computers appeared, he could play with them!

He was already cheating when he was born!

"If all this is true, then his actions should fall into the category of industrial espionage, right?"

Ethan frowned and asked, "Barbara, why did you show me the copyright protection?"

"Because our country currently has no law related to economic espionage."

Barbara spread her hands and said, "All espionage activities will eventually turn into various infringements."

"And in the field of papers, that's copyright infringement."

"To paraphrase the passage in Title 17 of the United States Code that I just showed you, if Larry Ellison had studied the relational database model based on Edgar Codd's paper before IBM published the paper publicly, then his actions would certainly constitute making derivative works without the copyright owner's permission."

“It’s illegal.”

When the word "illegal" came out of Barbara's mouth, Ethan's face was immediately filled with an excited smile, because it meant that he could use the iron fist of the law to hit people again!
But when he thought about it carefully, he felt something was wrong. "Wait, Barbara. Although I haven't studied law, if I remember correctly, copyright infringement should be a private prosecution case, right?"

"So even if Larry Ellison infringes on the copyright, only IBM can file the lawsuit?"

"Oh - that's not accurate." Barbara shook her head and said, "Copyright infringement can be resolved through civil lawsuits in our country, but sometimes it can also lead to criminal penalties."

"If the court finds that a person's infringement was intentional and intentionally harmed the personal or corporate interests of the copyright owner, then federal prosecutors can bring charges."

"Of course, before that, it is indeed necessary to conduct civil litigation, and the copyright owner or beneficial owner needs to file a lawsuit against the infringer."

"So, what you said is actually correct. In this case, IBM is the leader." "They must take the first step."

When this fact came to light, Ethan immediately fell back and leaned against the sofa.

He understood the meaning of Barbara's words and discovered many problems in this case.

First of all, assuming that Larry Ellison really plagiarized, then IBM, as the victim, is the party to the entire case. Not to mention that Ethan has no right to intervene, even if he intervenes, it would be like meddling in other people's business.

Secondly, since the time span is too long and IBM has already made the paper public, it is very difficult to provide evidence. IBM must prove to the court that Larry Ellison had plagiarized the model in the paper before he made it public, that is, Larry Ellison had already stolen IBM's data when he worked at IBM. Otherwise, the court will not determine that Oracle's products are infringing.

Once IBM makes the paper public, it can be developed at will as long as it is cited normally.

Ethan spoke out the judgment in his mind, and Barbara clapped her hands immediately and said with a smile: "Oh - Ethan - when I come back, how about I give you a lesson?"

"I said before that you are suitable for studying law. Now it seems... you are suitable."

"I have no objection." Ethan smiled and shrugged, as if to agree.

As long as I don't go to school, it doesn't matter.

If Barbara is willing to give him extra lessons in his spare time, then why not?

Before, he didn’t have time, but now, life really requires it.

"Oh, so we have a deal then?"

"of course."

After changing the subject, Barbara continued, "In fact, in addition to the two difficulties you just mentioned, there is actually another problem with this case, which is that the beneficiary of Oracle's product is the CIA."

"When Larry Ellison developed Oracle to meet the needs of the CIA..."

“This case is actually not that easy to handle.”

"Because the CIA is a bunch of—defense."

"As long as they think the product is useful, it doesn't matter whether the product infringes on copyright or not. So even if you contact IBM, IBM probably won't file a lawsuit."

Ethan nodded at the thought.

The CIA is a notorious organization no matter where it is.

When Larry Ellison actually solves their needs, they will definitely protect Oracle's products to the death, even if the infringer is IBM.

In this case, even if Ethan is IBM's biological father, he can't make these people fight a lawsuit that is difficult to collect evidence and even more difficult to win. Therefore, even if Ethan can catch Larry Ellison's handle, he can't destroy Oracle's product. Once Oracle's product cannot be destroyed, Vinton Cerf's troubles will remain. What makes Ethan even more uncomfortable is-

The guys who invested in Oracle were Don Valentine and Nolan Bushnell.

Oracle is now on Steve Ross' side.

More likely an ally of Rockwell.

“So——”

"This matter is actually unsolvable, is it?"

Ethan asked.

"As things stand, we cannot cure this problem from a copyright perspective."

Barbara admitted.

But at the same time, she also said: "But I personally think that we can tell Vinton these facts, and then, knowing that the Oracle database is suspected of infringing, he can use this as an opportunity to find a balance in the research bureau of the Ministry of Defense and get away from the current controversy and attack."

"What do you think?"

Barbara looked at Ethan.

Ethan nodded. "That's fine with me."

"I'll leave this matter to you. It's not convenient for me to go to Washington right now."

Although he couldn't slap Steve Ross in the face like he did with the Hollywood matter, Ethan was willing to do it if it could help Vinton Cerf escape the whirlpool of public opinion and return to normal life and conduct scientific research.

After all, overturning the table of a capitalist and overturning the table of a state violence agency are two different concepts.

In the former case, only the interests of a small group of people will be harmed.

As long as your fist is big enough, nothing else matters.

The latter is really touching the sensitive nerves of countless vested interests.

This is not a question of how big your fist is, but a question of redistribution of benefits.

Ethan does get carried away sometimes, but he's not an idiot.

and so--

"Then let's leave it at that for now."

"Let's get Vinton back on track, and we'll take care of the rest later."

Just when Ethan was about to take Steve Ross into account and wait for a chance to get back the money with interest in the future, Barbara was suddenly stunned.

"Wait - Ethan - you didn't think this was over?"

She looked at Ethan in surprise.

"Ah?" Ethan was also confused, "Isn't it?"

"..."

Barbara gave in, sighed hard, and said, "You are questioning my ability."

"I gave you two documents."

"The first document is the original foundation of Oracle's development, and the second one..."

"That was IBM's research on Edgar Codd's paper."

"but--"

"This research has nothing to do with Edgar Codd."

Barbara looked at Ethan seriously.

Ethan's eyes widened and he stood up suddenly, "WTF?"

"IBM studied Edgar Codd's paper without involving Edgar Codd?"

"real or fake?"

"Of course it's true." Barbara nodded cautiously.

Not only that, she added: "This news has been confirmed by the principal."

"After I got the news, I went to the president, and he had someone investigate the matter. And now, the situation is that Edgar Codd has completely fallen out with IBM."

"!" This fact made Ethan's mouth curl up.

In less than two seconds, a knowing smile appeared on his face.

Because he understood what Barbara meant.

When dealing with Oracle, they can use the simplest old method -

Dig people!

The founder of digging technology!

Anyway, there are no non-compete agreements in California!

After digging up the people...

There are many ways to destroy Oracle, right?
Make a database yourself, the price is cheaper and the service is better, that’s it!

If that doesn’t work, it’s free!

As long as all your competitors who burn money are killed, why would you worry about not making money?
Don Valentine wants to use Oracle to damage Vinton Cerf's reputation in the Department of Defense?
Was this the way Steve Ross and Rockwell were trying to take down his computer business?

Ah--

Then I will definitely take down your company!
Note: ① Edgar Codd is the Codd of "Codd's Theorem", the one who won the Turing Award in 1996. The creation of Oracle came from his paper. His paper was indeed published in , and was only circulated within IBM at that time. At first, he wanted to make a database, but IBM did not want to invest in relational data models. ② Before the Economic Espionage Act of , the United States did not have a law specifically targeting commercial espionage. ③ Papers do have copyrights, and the copyright belongs to either the creator or the employer.

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(End of this chapter)