RE: Copyrights (was Re: strsep sourc)

[Colin Williams <colin.williams@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Qsrvbas [mailto:qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: 13 June 2003 06:30
To: rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Copyrights (was Re: strsep sourc)


rpg400-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>  10. Re: strsep sourc (Buck)
>
>Scott's comments about derivative works comes from the idea that you 
>can't copy pages from my copyrighted math textbook, publish it with a 
>new cover and call it your own.
>

What bothers me about all of this is the "standard practice" of using 
copyrighted programs that (nearly?) all of us have done... E.g., we see 
a copyrighted article in a trade magazine that provides an example 
template for "Work with..." functions and think nothing of using it more 
or less directly as the basis for every "Work with..." function we ever 
write. Downloadable code is usually available too, now that telecomm is 
everywhere.

Technically, that's a possible copyright violation and I challenge 
anybody to prove that a lawyer _couldn't_ convince a court of it. But 
it's common practice. It's been so common for so long that the entire 
concept of copying _published_ code for inclusion in applications calls 
into question the validity of enforcing copyrights once the code is 
widely published.

How is it possible to know when a copyright is "serious"? (I don't know 
a better word for this.)

Tom Liotta


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