From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,4feb499c05063194 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news1.google.com!news.glorb.com!wns13feed!worldnet.att.net!attbi_s51.POSTED!53ab2750!not-for-mail From: tmoran@acm.org Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Artistically creative expression has no role in software design References: X-Newsreader: Tom's custom newsreader Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.6.132.82 X-Complaints-To: abuse@comcast.net X-Trace: attbi_s51 1090381464 24.6.132.82 (Wed, 21 Jul 2004 03:44:24 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 03:44:24 GMT Organization: Comcast Online Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 03:44:24 GMT Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:2300 Date: 2004-07-21T03:44:24+00:00 List-Id: > > Think about it this way: What if you design a program in Ada, and I > > make a "work alike" program written in say PL/I. Did I violate your > > copyright? I think I would agree that if I "reverse engineered" your > > code--or just read the comments--and used the same design I was > > infringing. Even if my version used char(*) varying where you used > > Unbounded_String, and so on. > > Which just goes to show the absurdity of the concept of intellectual > property as an ideology. I suggest it shows the absurdity of thinking that expertise in software engineering carries over to expertise in law. (IANAL) From "The Software Developer's and Marketer's Legal Companion", ISBN 0-201-62276-9 page 2: A fundamental concept of copyright law is that it grants exclusive rights to the particular expression that constitutes the work. The Copyright Act expressly provides that copyright protection does not extend to "any idea, procedure, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery" underlying the program. ... the level of originality required is very, very low ... The legal test contains two elements (1) a level of originality described by judges as "very slight" or "minimal," and (2) independent creation.