Locking Parameters in Families

[lonewolfjustin]

We are working on building our own families at my company. Since we are building them from scratch usually, we are putting in a parameter that indicates it is owned by us. But those who work with our stuff down the road can simply delete that info. Is there a way to lock that info or make it where it can't be changed? Basically how do you hard code ownership? Thanks!

[1N.]

We are working on building our own families at my company. Since we are building them from scratch usually, we are putting in a parameter that indicates it is owned by us. But those who work with our stuff down the road can simply delete that info. Is there a way to lock that info or make it where it can't be changed? Basically how do you hard code ownership? Thanks!

Sorry to tell you this , but you can't lock or hard code ownership. There are so many discussions on that subject.
How do you keep your intellectual property?
How do you protect the families you spend so many hours to build?
How do you secure the advantage that this give you above the rest that still uses AutoCAD for whatever reason or is still making the first steps in Revit ...
I think there is a way to put a trace, but that’s about all you can do. Please, let me know if you find a way to lock it I'll be very interested to hear that.
The architect that we work with wants to remove the families before we get his model...it is funny because that is not the way Revit is designed to work...it is suppose to promote collaboration, IPD, etc, so is up to the users to do the right thing. I worked on few big projects already and I have thousands of architectural families and I know they spend thousands of hours to build them. I know how hard is to build a family so I am not going
to use this data because of the moral codes I have.
I think Autodesk is trying to keep content open and free, but maybe they'll put price tag on that too in the future.

[lonewolfjustin]

Sorry to tell you this , but you can't lock or hard code ownership. There are so many discussions on that subject.
How do you keep your intellectual property?
How do you protect the families you spend so many hours to build?
How do you secure the advantage that this give you above the rest that still uses AutoCAD for whatever reason or is still making the first steps in Revit ...
I think there is a way to put a trace, but that’s about all you can do. Please, let me know if you find a way to lock it I'll be very interested to hear that.
The architect that we work with wants to remove the families before we get his model...it is funny because that is not the way Revit is designed to work...it is suppose to promote collaboration, IPD, etc, so is up to the users to do the right thing. I worked on few big projects already and I have thousands of architectural families and I know they spend thousands of hours to build them. I know how hard is to build a family so I am not going
to use this data because of the moral codes I have.
I think Autodesk is trying to keep content open and free, but maybe they'll put price tag on that too in the future.

Yeah its a pretty tricky situation. I don't mind helping out others at all and letting them have families for the most part. But I know there are companies out there, some of my co-workers think this way too, that think if there is content out there just grab that. Instead of taking the time to learn more about Revit and building families, they just want to rip off other peoples work. I also have the fun of having to deal with guys that want to use manufactures content instead of building our own. My thoughts are I would rather build it myself so that I know it is right and not bloated with useless information. But for most it is the quick solution that is more important than the right solution. Thanks for the response!

[tomnewsom]

I know there are companies out there, some of my co-workers think this way too, that think if there is content out there just grab that. Instead of taking the time to learn more about Revit and building families, they just want to rip off other peoples work.
If there's a way to lock it, someone down the line will find a way to unlock it. It's like trying to 'protect' downloaded movies. If the content needs to be decoded into a 'clean' format to be displayed, then that content can be intercepted. You just have to accept that your content is free to everyone, just as everyone's is free to you.

[sgermano]

If there's a way to lock it, someone down the line will find a way to unlock it. It's like trying to 'protect' downloaded movies. If the content needs to be decoded into a 'clean' format to be displayed, then that content can be intercepted. You just have to accept that your content is free to everyone, just as everyone's is free to you.

Thats just not a good enough answer. Our firm has spent hundreds if not thousands of man hours creating content and customizations, you do not want your competition getting this information for free when you spent hundreds of thousands of dollars developing it. There is no way that "You just have to accept that your content is free to everyone, just as everyone's is free to you." This is unacceptable and needs to be locked in some manner. I have seen many firms such as ours put a legal discalimer on the STC screen as we do also, while it may help deter others, it will not stop them. But at least they cant deny that they were warned they could get sued.

[tomnewsom]

There is no technical answer to your question. Seriously. Even if there was a lock, someone would find a way to unlock it. I totally understand the situation and the motivations behind making such a lock. I'm just saying that the effectiveness of it would not be very much. A legal statement is the best you can right now.