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That's precisely why the experts are asked their opinion. And a jury takes that opinion into account. "Dr. Soandso, do you believe, based on your experience,
by toufka 10y ago
That's precisely why the experts are asked their opinion. And a jury takes that opinion into account.
"Dr. Soandso, do you believe, based on your experience, that such an action would constitute a flagrant abuse? Of a kind that is unprecedented? And such an action would damage the reputation of many, you say? And were such an action to take place it would cause harm to the industry for decades?"
The jury needn't be an expert to make sound judgements. Expert witnesses do actually need to socially regarded as experts, and lawyers on both sides of this adversarial system should do everything they can to undermine those experts who are not impartial. And if each player in that system does their job well a layman should certainly be able to make a reasonably founded decision.
- sqeaky 10y agoBut then aren't you just expecting the Jury to trust the expert? How does the Jury tell two experts apart, while one says Yes and the other No?
- fjdlwlv 10y agoWhich one has a nicer looking face is more honest.
- nothrabannosir 10y agoThis thread is now so far removed from the original article, it has gone full circle. The article is, literally, about this not working.
- pedasmith 10y agoNot how it works; that's leading the witness, and just because you are an expert in one field (comparing code) doesn't mean you are an expert in another (assessing the value). I've actually been in this exact situation as an expert witness. The defendant had written code in language "A", sold it, then wrote similar code in language "B". The question was whether code "B" had been written while looking at code "A". The answer was yes, and I could prove it. Code often has a history that's apparent (e.g., you throw in an if statement to catch a weird input, and you add a comment like "fixing the wheelabrator-fry issue from december"). New code won't have the same history, and therefore should not have the same structure. If it does, the code must have been copied. That's especially true if there are dated comments in the code. What I wasn't asked was the economic value of the copying. Other experts handled that; I was just an expert in the two languages. BTW: the final assessed value was much less than the cost of the trial. And I felt sorry for the defendant; most of the code had not been copied.
- angersock 10y agoNew code won't have the same history, and therefore should not have the same structure. If it does, the code must have been copied. This seems a little weird--what if the author just remembers to, for example, make sure and handle those edge cases when starting again?
- pedasmith 10y agoWith a word for word identical comment, including a space before the final period?