wmartin@almsa-1.arpa (Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI) (02/28/86)
I meant to put this in the original, but one of our small systems crashed and I had to send it off in a hurry and go do a reboot... One other point -- who else, besides John Doe, is guilty of anything in this scenario? Everyone else who subsequently copied or distributed or modified the program did so in good faith, thinking that it was really "public domain", as John Doe falsely labeled it. Are they guilty of anything? Are they legally obligated to destroy any copies of the program they encounter after they are told of this sequence of events? (Are they obligated to destroy such copies if they see them even if they are on someone else's system or media? [I hesitate to use the phrases, "copies they own" or "copies someone else owns", because can any of them be said to really "own" this originally-stolen program?]) And one other point -- since this program is now widely distributed, with different names and in variations, labelled "public domain", is it now *really* in the public domain, even though it got there via theft and deceit? If not, just what is its status? Regards, Will Martin ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin