System And Program Product for Determining Java Software Code Plagiarism and Infringement

Abstract

An analysis tool extracts class data from Java objects within a potential plagiarizing Java program and the original Java program, and then compares classes common to the potential plagiarizing program and the original across various performance metrics. Similarities disclosed by the analysis tool are output for user or programmatic comparison of the matches between the potentially plagiarizing Java program byte code and the original program's byte code.

1 . A system for evaluating Java software to determine similarity with other Java software comprising:
 means for extracting class data from a software program;   means for extracting class data from an original software program;   means for determining class data of the software program matching the class data from the original software program;   means for outputting the comparison as a function of class data; and   means for determining a similarity of the software program to the original software program based on the comparison output.   
     
     
         2 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the class data includes method signatures, byte codes and byte arguments. 
     
     
         3 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the software programs are determined to be similar according to user input based on the comparison output. 
     
     
         4 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the software programs are determined to be similar according to statistical analysis based on the comparison output. 
     
     
         5 . The system according to  claim 1 , further comprising means for extracting class data from Java objects in the software program. 
     
     
         6 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the class data is taken directly from a binary class file for an object in the software program. 
     
     
         7 . An article of manufacture comprising machine-readable medium including program logic embedded therein for evaluating Java software to determine similarity with other Java software that causes control circuitry in a data processing system to perform the steps of:
 extracting class data from a software program;   extracting class data from an original software program;   determining class data of the software program matching the class data from the original software program;   outputting the comparison as a function of class data; and   determining a similarity of the software program to the original software program based on the comparison output.   
     
     
         8 . The article of manufacture according to  claim 7 , wherein the class data includes method signatures, byte codes and byte arguments. 
     
     
         9 . The article of manufacture according to  claim 7 , wherein the software programs are determined to be similar according to user input based on the comparison output. 
     
     
         10 . The article of manufacture according to  claim 7 , wherein the software programs are determined to be similar according to statistical analysis based on the comparison output. 
     
     
         11 . The article of manufacture according to  claim 7 , further comprising the step of extracting class data from Java objects in the software program. 
     
     
         12 . The article of manufacture according to  claim 7 , wherein the class data is taken directly from a binary class file for an object in the software program.