QUESTION
I work for a college basketball team and I have been tasked with trying to find a way to protect the coach''s hustle statistics, which he invented.
Asked on Aug 21st, 2011 on Intellectual Property - New York
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Is it possible to do this? I have been doing some research and I do not think a patent applies, since there is nothing tangible. I''m not sure a copyright applies either. The statistics consist of identifying specific events on the court, and inputing their frequency into excel, which then uses a specific formula (this is what the coach developed) to output a hustle rating for the team or a given player.
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As a general matter, formulas are not capable of being protected under the laws of either patent or copyright. You can protect such a formula by keeping it secret, and then it may, under appropriate circumstances, be capable of being protected under the laws that apply to trade secrets. It will, of course, be necessary for people who have access to the formula to take steps to preserve its confidentiality, and the coach will want to have everyone who has access to the formula sign a confidentiality agreement. None of this, of course, will prevent anyone else from independently developing the same or a similar formula.
Answered on Aug 23rd, 2011 at 3:42 PM