wjb@burl.UUCP (08/23/83)
Okay, assuming what rabbit!ark said is true, I have another question. Suppose I have used a particular piece of software, so that I have a pretty good idea how it must have been written, or can at least make a guess as to how it was done. I then hack a version of the software. Am I then in violation of copyright law? Suppose I now market my version. Can I copyright my version? Is my version protected under the law? It seems to me that this goes on all the time. I'm trying to understand where the line is drawn and why. Anybody out there with definitive answers? Good guesses? P.S. to rabbit!ark: never mind. i figured out what happened when i read your article. -- --Bill Bill Buie Public (919)697-3024 Cornet 8-292-3024
dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (08/24/83)
Without getting into the issues that rabbit!ark raised, I can
say that, in Canada (and as far as I know the U.S. is the same
in this regard), making up your own version of a program which
matches the specs of another (i.e., functions the same way), when
you are not copying the code, is fine.
Look at all the UNIX lookalikes, beginning with Idris years
ago. There are now a dozen or more. Once the specifications of what
UNIX does become public knowledge, anyone can write their own programs
to do what UNIX does.
Dave Sherman
[not speaking on behalf of] The Law Society of Upper Canada
Toronto
--
{allegra,cornell,floyd,ihnp4,linus,utzoo,uw-beaver,watmath}!utcsrgv!lsuc!daveka@spanky.UUCP (08/27/83)
A copyright does not protect ideas per se; instead it protects the expression of ideas. Or at least that's the general idea. There- fore, if you develop a program from scratch that does the same thing as somebody else's program, you haven't violated any copyright laws. If you did not have access to the source of the other person's program there is no way they can claim that your program is just a modified version of their program. Remember, though, that the documentation for the original program was probably copyrighted so you can't repro- duce copies of it for people you give your program to. Kenneth Almquist