Subject: Ethics O' Code Lifting, Part II

From: Allan Alford <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 18:54:54 -0800

Hmmm.

All of [email-masked]'s sarcasm aside, that is actually an
interesting point.

PC Magazine and others of its ilk will periodically print out source code
to some of their "nifty" utilities.

There is ALWAYS a copyright blurb on the printed source code.

That might actually, in the eyes of the law, change things in terms of
copyrightability.

The law is new and, as someone else pointed out, often-times conflicting
when it comes to code.

Christopher Stacy brought up another valid point when he asked about
copying the 'look and feel' of another's code.

Pavel COULD certainly copyright the core.  Other could conceivably
copyright their particular applications.  (Look at some of the huge
FoxPro-based apps like SBT Pro for examples of that).

Putting it in print might actually further enable that process.

Either way, back to my original point:

People have the right to be pissy about whether their readable code gets
lifted.   If so, they ought to just put a line in there to the effect of
"check with me first".

Pavel has obviously not made any kind of efforts to limit his core, or to
make money off of it.  In that spirit, I vote we all give credit where
it's due, and respect the wishes of those who, for whatever reason, do not
want their stuff freely copied.

Peace

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1993 12:54:11 -0800

> All of [email-masked]'s sarcasm aside, that is actually an

Hee hee. I was only being naughty. :) By the way, it's "WIDCAT" as in
"Widener Catalog". :)

> to some of their "nifty" utilities.
[...] other good points about copyrights deleted

This is where the principle of "fair use" comes into play. If I buy
a CD, for example, it is considered "fair use" for me to copy it to 
a cassette for my personal listening enjoyment. It is not considered
"fair use" for me to copy it to cassette and give it to my girlfriend.
(If it were my wife, however, and the CD were community property, it
gets a little fuzzy).

We can easy copyright Moo code, if we follow the necessary steps:

1) Make sure the copyright message is seen by all users that might use
the code. This can be accomplished simply by putting the message
"Accessed programs may be protected by copyright" on the login screen,
specific copyright messages in the documentation and source code, and
perhaps even an offline printed copy of the code, dated of course.

2) Take actions to enforce the copyright. If someone copyrights code
but doesn't try to prevent it from being copied, or ignores obvious
violations of the copyright, then it legally doesn't exist.

You could even go so far as to register the copyright on it, but that
costs money. :)

--JRP [Shirgall@lotsa places]