Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 11:35:43 -0500 (EST) From: "Crist J. Clark" <cjc@cc942873-a.ewndsr1.nj.home.com> To: drifter@stratos.nospam.net (Rob) Cc: mph@astro.caltech.edu, bjc23@hermes.cam.ac.uk, questions@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: The FreeBSD Dictionary Message-ID: <199903031635.LAA05177@cc942873-a.ewndsr1.nj.home.com> In-Reply-To: <19990303045313.B1500@net> from Rob at "Mar 3, 99 04:53:13 am"
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Rob wrote, > This might sound like a stupid question, but how is it possible > to "copyright" a dictionary? I(c) mean(c), they(c) don't(c) own(c) > the(c) words(c), do they? > At the very least, it would seem that Webster's would be hard- > pressed to prove that somebody "stole" their word list. So I could make photocopies Websters and go sell them on the corner, and you would see no problem with that? Greg Lehey's book on FreeBSD must not be copyrighted because he does not own FreeBSD. Likewise and book on history, science, etc., basically any work on non-fiction must not be copyrighted. Compilation of those words represents many man-years of labor. Websters or any other entity has the right to protect that hard work from plagiarism. As for the last point, taking the moral highground, I see, "I know it is wrong, but I cannot be caught, so it is OK." But wait, there is the ol' urban legend that dictionaries put in bogus entries just to be able to catch copyright infringments. -- Crist J. Clark cjclark@home.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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