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“Fine,” she says. “Sounds fine.”
“We’re on it,” I say before disconnecting the call. “Your house tomorrow, one o’clock?” I ask her.
“One,” she agrees tentatively, sinking into the driver’s seat.
I check my watch. I have a little over three hours before I'm due at Lisa’s, which gives me just enough time to follow up on the problems plaguing Swop.
Swop is the brainchild of a guy named Kurt, a former retail store owner who developed a software to help small retailers with inventory, which we’re trying to patent. Sling is a more established company trying to patent a software that moves inventory online. Swop focuses on the retailer, Sling on the manufacturer. They each focus on a totally different area of the supply chain, although in theory if you put them together, they could encompass the entire supply chain. That’s what it looks like Sling is trying to do with an amendment they made to their original patent application.
I pick up the phone and dial my attorney, Jason.
“Before you ask, yes,” Jason says by way of answer. “Sling’s original application predates ours, so their amendment does, too.”
In the world of patents, everything is traced to the original application date, meaning any amendments you make can be backdated. Though our patent was filed before Sling’s amendment, their original patent application was filed first. That means their amendment could trump our entire application.
“How similar is it to ours?” I ask. “If their process or technology is different, we’re in the clear, right?”
“It’s not exact, but it’s damn close.” Jason exhales heavily.
“How is that possible?” I balk. “Kurt came up with this idea as a kid working the cash register before the technology even existed to make it work. It’s years, hell, nearly a decade in the making. What are the odds?”
Another rule of patents, or any startup for that matter, is that someone else always has the same idea. You have to assume you’re racing this other idea to market, which is why timing is so important. I’m not foolish enough to think Kurt is the only person working on a software to help retailers. But his business model is a bit unique, and it’s unlikely anyone else has hit on it.
“I’d say low, but it can’t be ruled out.” Jason’s logical response is not the one I want to hear.
“Yeah, fine,” I grunt. “But tell me this still doesn’t feel suspect. I mean, the guys at Sling aren’t retailers. What’s the likelihood they suddenly pivot to address that segment of the supply chain at the exact moment we file our patent?”
“Again, not likely, but it can’t be ruled out.”
“Okay, okay,” I sigh. “I get we can’t rule it out, but something about this just feels off.”
“You really think Swop’s patent data was stolen?”
“I know you all think I’m being paranoid, and maybe I am. But you know how big Kurt’s idea is. A complete and total disruption of the supply chain as we know it…it’d be worth hundreds of millions, if not more. A deal that big could draw the wrong kind of attention.”
“We vetted the potential investors thoroughly,” Jason insists.
Any new business needs investors, and while I’ve funded Swop so far, I do need more people to come on board to get to the finish. Anyone who wants to invest will need to see the business plan and financials, and if they’re really serious, they’ll want to see the details of the patent. That’s standard, so there are several people out there who have access to the information. Jason and I did our homework on all of them, and we felt pretty comfortable that they were good people. But maybe we missed something. Or maybe Erik’s file server did get hacked. I know he doesn’t want to believe that, and I don’t, either, but we can’t ignore the possibility.
“I hear you,” I agree. “I’m just not sold on the idea that Sling came by their patent amendment organically.”
“So, we’re back to the breach?”
“We can’t rule it out.” I spit Jason’s logic back to him.
I have no proof that a breach took place online, but I can’t shake the feeling that the file server is the key to finding out where Sling got their information. Erik took a look and said he didn’t find anything suspicious, but I’m not sure how thorough his search was. Not that he would deliberately do an incomplete job, but he truly believes there’s no way for the data to have been compromised, which makes it more likely that he would overlook where he was vulnerable. That raises a whole slew of questions about the safety of my digital files.
There’s really only one way to know for sure if the server has been compromised, and unfortunately, tracing the digital footprint of anyone who accessed the file server is above my skill set. I’m the guy with a knack for spotting a good investment, not building the technology behind those investments. But, thanks to Charlie’s venture, I might just know a guy who can help.
“So, how do you want to move forward?” Jason asks.
“I might have an idea.”
“And that is?”
“Let me do a little more digging to see if it’ll work,” I stall. It’s a risk to bring in an outsider to help, but if I’m right, if I can prove our documents are the basis for Sling’s amendment, maybe I can get Swop back on track, restoring my reputation and proving that I’m still good at what I do.
“Keep me posted.” Jason signs off.
