It seems we've come across way too many stories lately about successful folks stealing good ideas from unknown underdogs. We hate to be the sourpusses of the tech set, but we've come across another unhappy but still viable tale of questionable dealings, this time involving Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and his hot new mobile-linked credit card scanner company, Square . Sponsor Dorsey and his Square co-founder, Jim McKelvey, had reportedly been negotiating with electrical engineering professor Bob Morley, who says he built and filed a patent for the technology for scanning a credit card and converting its data from a magnetic stripe into an audio signal. The professor, who lives and works in St. Louis (where Square has its Operations HQ), said he wanted to give Square his tech in exchange for shares, but that didn't pan out. The parties ended their negotiations unsuccessfully in October, about four months after Morley filed his patent. The patent hasn't yet been published, and no one's certain exactly whose technology Square's card scanner is employing. But let's back it up for a second: How are we even sure this Morley character isn't a complete charlatan who is simply taking advantage of circumstances to cash in on a company valued at $40 million? Through hours of back-breaking research, a.k.a., looking these folks up on Twitter and DoesFollow, we can see that Morley met with Square cofounders in June and was at San Francisco International Airport again in July. But anyone can claim to have met with the Internet famous, right? However, both McKelvey and Dorsey follow Morley on Twitter, suggesting a more intimate relationship. By way of illustrating this point, Dorsey has a million and a half followers and returns the favor to a mere 751 users. It seems unlikely that a close friend or acquaintance would make such potentially damaging claims, but we're sure this happens from time to time, as well. Still, Square is about a lot more than converting magnetic data to an audio signal. There's the iPhone app, photo verification of cardholders and a pretty cool integration with nonprofit organizations, too. And until Morley's patent is granted, Square is free to carry on with business as usual, regardless of who engineered their hardware. But Morley is also free to shop his tech around to other companies - and in a space this hot and this lucrative, we're sure he'll find plenty of interested parties. While we wait to hear back from a Square rep, we're left to ponder the specifics and implications of this unsavory story. There is certainly a lot of gray area here, but the proof will be in the patents. Discuss

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Did Dorsey & Square Cheat on Hardware Development?