I have a question regarding the security of an Atmel 89c2051.

My company designed a product that uses this device back in 2006.
Sales have been ordinary, nothing spectacular. In the fall of 2006,
another company started making a knockoff of our product, and they are
selling the product for a great deal less than we are.

My associate (my techie) and I quickly purchased the knockoff and discovered that
it also uses an atmel 89C2051. The circuit has been changed around a little
however the pinout is EXACTLY the same, the components are a little different,
but basically they are doing the same thing.

I just don't know how to prove that they have copied our software, without
reading their 89C2051. WE would immediately carry forth legal action once we are
100% sure that they have copied our software. In fact there are rumors
coming from a reliable source that they are indeed using our software
without one single byte of code changed.

We cannot afford to spend a great deal of money to have the device reverse engineered
because we are a small company. Our sales were average until this other company
came about. I am also not very pleased about spending big money on a lawyer to
fight this. I did briefly speak to an attorney and he advised me
that without adequate proof, there is a possibility that they could win.

We have since changed to another design, using another microcontroller
and were offering free upgrades to the existing customer base, but the other company
(I cannot afford to mention any names here until I have 100% proof)
is selling the knockoff 50% less than we are, so no matter what, we are in trouble
for any future sales.


I have a few questions.

I would like to know how we can read the software in the knockoff
just to be sure that it is ours, and then we can proceed to take legal action.

I know that it will cost a great deal of money for legal action, but it would be
well worth it if I have 100% proof that our software has been stolen.

Secondly if anyone can do this for me, Please send me an email.

I would not need the software, just one particular segment (our copyright string)
embedded within the flash memory.

Please let me know if you are willing to help, or give me any suggestions.
I certainly hope I have not offended anyone here.

Thank you to everyone and Happy Easter!

Regards,
John Garrett
Montreal, Canada

you can email me at:

jgarrett321@yahoo.com