The trial of ex-Goldman Sachs programmer Sergey Aleynikov marches on with lots of skirmishing about a statement Aleynikov signed after his initial interrogation, the fact that one FBI agent owned Goldman Sachs stocks, and of course, open source code. An expert witness for the defense said on Wednesday that the codeAleynikov is accused for stealing from Goldman can be found in virtually identical form on the Internet.

Benjamin Goldberg, associate professor of computer science at New York University, told the court that after a side-by-side comparison of the code Aleynikov allegedly stole from Goldman with what's available on various public websites, he concluded they were either the same or that Goldman's code was modified just a little, reports Bloomberg.

It's unclear how a jury might internalize the revelation. But if true, it would appear to represent a dent in the prosecution's case. The argument that theft is theft even if the object is freely available elsewhere might seem kind of nuanced. Jurors just might be willing to give Aleynikov the benefit of the doubt.

The prosecution previously rested its case with witnesses who spoke about other suits that accused Aleynikov of violating various intellectual property rights regarding a Wheel of Company program he was selling at one time. The goal appears to be to show him as a serial infringer.

This is all quite riveting. It will be interesting to see how the defense plays the open source code angle. One might be tempted to handicap the trial in Aleynikov's favor right now, but that would be premature.

For more:
- here's the Bloomberg article
- Teza exec says he wouldn't take Goldman Sachs code in this article

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