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Xref: sserve comp.unix.bsd:3593 misc.int-property:384 misc.legal.computing:1484 Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!uunet!mcsun!uknet!edcastle!aiai!jeff From: jeff@aiai.ed.ac.uk (Jeff Dalton) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd,misc.int-property,misc.legal.computing Subject: Re: Poisoned textbooks and net articles? Message-ID: <7172@skye.ed.ac.uk> Date: 12 Aug 92 15:15:55 GMT References: <1992Aug10.225150.29474@unislc.uucp> <7154@skye.ed.ac.uk> <1992Aug12.041630@eklektix.com> Sender: news@aiai.ed.ac.uk Followup-To: misc.int-property Organization: AIAI, University of Edinburgh, Scotland Lines: 43 In article <1992Aug12.041630@eklektix.com> rcd@raven.eklektix.com (Dick Dunn) writes: >jeff@aiai.ed.ac.uk (Jeff Dalton) writes: >>> Of course, there are some folks out there >>>that contend that if you release a piece of software to the net, you in >>>effect place it in the public domain, but I don't believe a judge would buy >>>that argument. >... >>Well, just when _are_ we allowed to use information we read in books >>or on the net? And what's the point of reading these things if the >>answer is "never"? How much does copyright restrict us?... >>any point in reading books, for instance?) > >This digresses a bit from BSD to "intellectual property" stuff, but it's >worth knowing, given (as others have pointed out) the large amount of >published material on BSD systems. > >Copyright protects the form of expression. It explicitly does *not* >protect ideas or information. (Patents protect ideas; that's not at issue >here.) So, for example, the copyright on a textbook protects the par- >ticular presentation of ideas, concepts, and facts. You can use the ideas >and the information in a textbook; you can't (for example) copy the way >they're explained. OK, (1) suppose someone posts some code to the net w/o a copyright notice. Can I use it, or is there an implicit copyright that says "no"? If the latter, then I may be better off if I don't read net articles that contain code. (2) Suppose I find out about an algorithm by reading a textbook. How much does my implementation have to differ from the one in the book? Should I stay away from textbooks that give code and look for ones that give only informal or mathematical descriptions? Now, from "form of expression" it sounds like translation to a different programming language might suffice, but I doubt it really does. In short, does the common practice of finding out how to do something by reading books, papers, and net articles violate copyrights? -- jeff PS I've directed followups to misc.int-property. Is that ok?