wjb@burl.UUCP (08/22/83)
Pardon me for opening on a simple-minded subject, but I really would like to know... If I know somebody with a floppy who gives me a copy is this legal? If somebody I know gets access to the source code of marketed software, and I type, compile, and load a copy into my machine, is this legal? If somebody I know gets access to the source code of marketed software and we upgrade the software to make it fit our application and then compile, etc., is this legal? If "it depends..." please explain what it depends on. In particular, does it depend on what you use it for (personal use as opposed to marketting/selling it yourself, etc.)? How protected (by the law, that is) is most of the stuff I can buy on floppies for micros? All replies welcome. I'd rather see it on the net as a discussion. -- --Bill Bill Buie Public (919)697-3024 Cornet 8-292-3024
ark@rabbit.UUCP (08/23/83)
Computing Surveys did an article on this issue -- I forget just when. What follows is my understanding of that article, which I read at the time it was published. It does pertain to the "new" (1968) copyright law. I am not a lawyer, and my recollections may be inaccurate. Anyone who creates an artistic or literary work (which includes computer programs) is entitled to copyright protection. All you have to do to be protected is to include a copyright notice in the thing for which you want protection. It is not necessary to register a copy unless you are about to file suit against someone for infringement. In that case, you must first register a copy with (I think) the Library of Congress. There is a nominal fee attached to such registration. Copyright protection means that anyone who wants to make a copy of the thing in question must first obtain your permission. Period. A copy includes a translation into another language, a paraphrase, a digest, or even a summary (I think). I think it's OK to lift small sections of a book or article for review purposes, but that may have gone out in 1968. The Computing Surveys article contained the following case in point. A church choir director bought copies of a book of chorales for his chorus. He particularly liked a certain hymn, but the arrangement did not suit his chorus well, so he rearranged it. He decided he liked the new arrangement better than the old, so he send a copy of it to the book's publisher, along with a letter saying that he had made this arrangement to suit his chorus, and, if the publisher liked it, they were welcome to publish it in a future edition of the book without paying him. The publisher sued the choir director for copyright infringement and won. The point is that he made an unauthorized copy of the work. The purpose to which it was put was totally irrelevant. The same situation applies if you copy software on a floppy disk, by any means whatever. If there is a copyright notice, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder, or else you are in violation. This is true regardless of the use to which you put the copy. I think it is probably true (but am less certain) that if you make an illegal copy of something and give (or sell) it to me, that the copyright holder cannot take any action against me. The only thing copyright protection provides is a means to prevent people from making illegal copies, and I did not make any copies. Of course, if I copy the disk you gave me, the copyright holder might then have recourse.
smb@ulysses.UUCP (08/23/83)
rabbit!ark's recollection of the Computing Survey article agrees with my own. Let me make one further point: software is often sold by contract which imposes certain continuing obligations on the buyer. What you are buying is the right to *use* a certain program, subject to assorted conditions and restrictions. The case we're all familiar with is Bell's UNIX(TM) license: it explicitly sets forth the conditions and fees for redistribution, and in the educational variant prescribes what uses may or may not be made of that software package. Don't like it? Tough -- the author owns the program, and is entitled to impose such conditions. The real answer to the original question, then, is this: it depends on how the software was originally sold, and under what conditions.
rgh@inmet.UUCP (08/27/83)
#R:burl:-28900:inmet:16000002:000:2177
inmet!rgh Aug 26 19:14:00 1983
The Computing Surveys article mentioned is "Computer Software and
Copyright", by Calvin N. Mooers, in Vol. 7, No. 1, March 1975.
Here is the abstract:
The method of copyright, although neglected in the past, is
a method to consider for legal protection of commercial computer
software and programs. Copyright is particularly directed to
written text, and it is therefore applicable to the text form
or listing of computer programs and software, and to all
derivatives thereof. When the simple formal requirements for
copyright have been met, it immediately provides claim to
exclusive rights in the published text. Unauthorized copying,
translation, performance, or making derivative versions, of a
copyrighted text then constitutes a copyright infringement with
legal penalties. Included among the things protectable by
copyright are: computer programs, documentation and diagrams,
the meticulous details of a debugged system, program translation
such as from FORTRAN to ALGOL, compiling of programs, running
a program, software systems and their command languages,
languages and their compilers, and the microprogramming required
for a computer to mimic a defined instructional set. Copyright
may be more suitable than patent or trade secret for commercial
protection of most typical programs and software. Copyright of
computer software may speed the achievement of program
portability, and standardization of software systems. Utilization
of, and acceptance of, copyright protection in the industry is
expected to increase as computer professionals learn of its
features and advantages.
I hasten to add:
Copyright (C) 1975, Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.
General permission to republish, but not for profit, all or
part of this material is granted, provided that ACM's copyright
notice is given and that reference is made to this publication,
to its date of issue, and to the fact that reprinting privileges
were granted by permission of the Association for Computing
Machinery.
Randy Hudson
{harpo,cca!ima}!inmet!rgh