“But, for my own part, it was Greek to me”. – Julius Caesar (Act I, Scene II)

Pray, what is the similarity between an Indian software engineer saying “Hello world” in Java and William Shakespeare saying “But, if it wasn’t for another world, I would have said hello” or something similar?

Interestingly, while they are illustrative of the evolution of greeting styles over the last four hundred years, both the works are protected under the copyright law as literary works…Who would have thought that I have spent some of the most significant years of my life contributing to the growth of world literature…An old friend quite literally threw the book at me ( Paradise Lost ) when she said “In naked beauty more adorned more lovely than Pandora” and I thought she was quoting out of a twentieth century men’s magazine published monthly….

While not knowing John Milton proved to be almost fatal back then, I am sure I could have settled the argument better had I known that writing software qualifies for literary patents…

We had a talk by Dr Neil Wilkof on implications of Intellectual Property rights for mangers and it was an eye opener…It didn’t occur to ask me then but: Is patent leather patented ?

P.S: I am allowed to quote Shakespeare/Milton since the copyright on an author’s work typically expires after his death