Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 21:00:14 -0500 (CDT) From: Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Copyrights (again) Message-ID: <14720.59694.464218.849612@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <bulk.37169.20000727164137@hub.freebsd.org> References: <bulk.37169.20000727164137@hub.freebsd.org>
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> > Legal protection for software is copyright law. > Well, sort of. If I break into a computer store and steal all their > Windows CDs, I am not guilty of copyright infringement, just theft of > the physical objects. 'Course, if I then install Windows on some > computers, using those CDs, without a valid license, then I'm also > guilty of copyright infringement. The first part I'll agree with. Are you sure about the second case? After all, those CDs come with the appropriate license for one install. If you don't violate that license, it's not clear you've violated the copyright. Or does the license specify that you have to have obtained the CD legally? > > As for something that really is "free for everyeone" - meaning it's in > > the public domain (something that doesn't happen very often any more), > > you can legally put a copyright on that and sell it. > > This is simply wrong. I (obviously) don't agree. > Actually, lots of stuff is PD. Everything Shakespeare wrote, for example. True - I wasn't very clear. I meant that things don't get placed in the public domain very often any more. > You can sell PD materials, but you can't copyright them. They have no > copyright to be had. That's wrong. The copyright belongs to the public. Anyone and everyone has a right to make copies of something in the PD, with no restrictions whatsoever. I'm perfectly free to take a copy of a PD work, slap my copyright line on it, and then sell it to someone with a standard license. Of course, I can't stop them from finding the original and doing whatever they want with that. > > In fact, taking something that is PD (or covered by a BSD-like > > license) and forming a company to market it is a standard industry > > practice. > Sure. Why not? Tech support's a big industry. I wasn't talking aboug tech support, though that's typically how the things start. Most of them go on to extend and upgrade the product as if they had written it originally. Some of them also hire the people who wrote the software in the first place. <mike To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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