RE: Copyrights (was Re: strsep sourc)

rpg400-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>   3. RE: Copyrights (was Re: strsep sourc) (Colin Williams)
>
>I would think that most copyright holders would not go to the effort of
>taking action
>Against anyone that infringed their copyright, unless the theif was actually
>making money out
>Out of what they had taken. 

Colin, I personally agree but there seems to be a rub...

Let's say I use code supplied out of a copyrighted article and use it to build 
a significant in-house application, maybe just relatively ordinary, good ol' 
Order Entry. At that point, I doubt there'd ever be trouble. Someone later 
takes the slick looking pieces out of that -- the originally copyrighted pieces 
concerning "Work with..." -- and builds a successful generic commercial 
application of some other type.

Now there's been a line crossed, but where's the liability? If the first use in 
the in-house application included cleaning out comments that did not relate to 
the functional code, e.g. comments such as 'Copyright by...', then the 
significant actual liability would seem to be at the first use.

I suspect this situation is hidden in code almost everywhere. The proverbial 
"disgruntled employee" can probably find examples easily and take advantage.

It seems that there ought to be enforced standards and policy in all shops 
generating in-house applications but I don't think I've ever seen 
implementation of such other than in software houses themselves.

Tom Liotta

-- 
Tom Liotta
The PowerTech Group, Inc.
19426 68th Avenue South
Kent, WA 98032
Phone  253-872-7788 x313
Fax    253-872-7904
http://www.powertechgroup.com


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