Code ACE™ – Source Code Comparison and Analysis Service

DisputeSoft reduces the cost of source code analysis and comparison by supplementing manual code examination services with proprietary software tools designed to programmatically detect instances of copied source code through electronic detection: a service referred to as Code ACE™.

Our experts are often called upon to analyze individual code sets or to compare multiple sets of source code to identify (a) similarities and differences in IP litigation, and (b) risk factors in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) audits and due diligence investigations.

As software programs typically contain thousands of lines of code, manual code review requires a substantial amount of time at significant cost, especially in the case of comparing multiple sets of source code. DisputeSoft’s Code ACE™ service reduces the cost of source code analysis and comparison by employing a proprietary software tool that applies industry-standard analytic and comparison techniques to programmatically identify suspected similarities for targeted manual code review performed by DisputeSoft experts. This service can be leveraged to dramatically reduce the time necessary to complete an investigation and to increase the accuracy of the investigation’s results.

The Code ACE™ service uses a tool that applies a number of analytic and comparison techniques well known in the software development industry, including file hash comparisons, file metadata analysis, file-to-file comparisons, line-to-line comparisons, and fingerprinting analyses to identify likely instances of copied source code in order to dramatically reduce the workload involved in subsequent manual analysis. Code ACE™ employs these techniques not only to compare source code sets but also to identify open source or third-party source code present in the analyzed source code that attorneys may need to take into account.

The analytical techniques exhibited in DisputeSoft’s Code ACE™ service can be applied to computer programs written in any programming language as well as to database schemas and stored procedure code. These broadly applicable techniques allow our experts to identify potentially copied or misappropriated source code and to eliminate original code that was not copied from another source.  We then provide formal or informal reports, as required, describing our findings in disputes and investigations covering a wide variety of technologies.

DisputeSoft analysts run a comparison between the original or copyrighted source code set and the accursed or allegedly infringing source code set to determine whether the same text appears in both programs and the extent to which the programs overlap.