Computer Students Who Watched Their Teachers Go Out on Strike

Multiple Choice

Computer students who watched their teachers go out on strike were amazed when they heard about the difficult logistics required in such an operation. Two students spent two nights and two days developing a program for organizing a strike and picket line. It included such variables as legal requirements, number of sites, number of picketers, communications network, shifts, media contacts, etc. The students called their program "Picket Program." The students took their package -- program and manual -- to a computer developer/publisher, Mr. Lacs, to discuss the feasibility of marketing the program. Lacs said it was feasible. However, negotiations, which had lasted over a two week period, broke down when Lacs rejected the students' terms in their licensing agreement. Three months later, the students learned that Lacs developed and published a program called "Picketers' Path" based on their ideas, with a manual that they recognized as theirs. On these facts, which of the following is true?

A) The students' manual was not protected by copyright, because they had not yet applied for protection under the Copyright Act.
B) The students cannot protect the computer program under the law of trade secrets because all the information it contained could be obtained by others, e.g., the law from the library, the necessities of picketers from observation or unions, etc.
C) With regard to the computer program, Lacs could not be sued for misuse of a trade secret because the students only told him their idea and ideas cannot be protected by trade secret law.
D) The students could sue for breach of trade secret law if they can show it was apparent in the circumstances that Lacs was being trusted with confidential information.
E) Because there was no non-disclosure agreement signed by Lacs, he cannot be sued for misuse of a trade secret.