Android Central - How one developer got shamelessly 'Sherlocked' by Facebook

Director of Enforcement Strategy Sally Hubbard’s past writing about the hurdles involved in using the legal system to hold tech giants accountable is referenced in an article about “sherlocking.”

So what happens if you're a developer and find yourself in a position of being Sherlocked? Suits can be brought forth alleging copyright claims to software which, surprisingly, is copyright protected like any other literary work. Direct code-copying violations are theoretically an easy way to pin ownership of a product and, therefore, a copyright violation. "If you have a legitimate claim, and you bring that claim, one of the provisions is that the defendant will pay your legal fees if you win," NetChoice's Szabo explains.

The legal system was built for this exact kind of case — especially when it's in an industry that moves as quickly as tech or gaming — but cost is still a massive hurdle, even if it's made up in the end (if you win). Liv told me that YUR spoke with lawyers about the case and were quoted somewhere in the ballpark of half a million dollars just for the retainer fee. That means you need half a million dollars upfront just to get things started.

The legal system was built for this kind of case, but big companies drag out the length to incur expenses.

Public defenders and pro bono cases are always a thing, too, but companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook have an army of lawyers ready to defend their clients, oftentimes dragging cases out for months or years. That time frame makes it extremely difficult — or impossible — to even begin a case.

Sally Hubbard, director of enforcement strategy at the Open Markets Institute, an anti-monopoly think tank, has seen this situation happen more than once. In fact, in Hubbard's book, Monopolies Suck, she details an almost carbon copy of YUR's story, just with Apple as the villain.

Read the full article on Android Central here.