The author of the generated code (eg. the person who made same) is the owner subject to the usual copyright ownership rules which apply to code
However, the generated code would most likely would contain other third party rights. eg. the copyright owner of the source code would have some rights and the copyright owner of the compiler and third party libraries would also have some rights (check your licence about the use of runtimes). Other rights may also subsist (eg. data/object model, schema, moral rights etc) For further advice please contact me off-list. Steve White White SW Computer Law m: +61 414 235 633 e: [email protected] w: www.computerlaw.com.au From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Stephen Price Sent: Monday, 1 February 2010 9:52 PM To: ausDotNet Subject: Re: Code generation and copyright And such a copyright protects you from someone using your work of art in its original form. If someone copies the idea or does an interpretation then their work is a new piece of art and they own the copyright for their new art. In the case of a real cartoon (the area i'm familiar with regards to copyrights) if I draw a cartoon and you photocopy it and put it on t-shirts then i'm protected by copyright laws. If you draw your own version of it (no matter how good it is) and put it on t-shirts then i'm not covered. I'm not sure how that transfers over to generated code... I did have a (crazy) idea for a program that outputs every combination of 1's and 0's to a floppy disk. Given there is a finite number of combinations that can go onto a disk, that means that my program can "write" any program at all, given enough time. So once I release my program, anyone who publishes a program on a floppy disk after I have released my program, I can sue them because they used my program to write theirs. I've not tested this idea so your milage may vary. :) cheers, Stephen On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 4:51 PM, PhilB <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: My understanding is that anything you write is considered a work of art and is hence considered copyrighted to you. If you created a screen design with associated event code then this is definitely your copyright, even though you may have used part of it from another source (eg CodeProject.com). I believe that this is the case even when you do custom software for a paying customer. If you were an artist who was engaged to paint a portrait of somebody who later became famous, the painting may become valuable and be owned by somebody. However I believe that they cannot copy it without your permission. If you pay to get house plans drawn up for you, you only own the ability to show them to other people. If you wanted to get the Autocad or Revitt source file then you would have to ask very nicely and you may indeed be refused even though you have paid for the design. Having said that there are many countries that do not recognise international copyright law. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>] On Behalf Of Tony Wright Sent: Monday, 1 February 2010 1:55 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>; 'ausDotNet' Subject: Code generation and copyright Hi all, Possibly stupid middle of the night question: I'm interested in knowing if anyone knows how copyright applies to code generation. I'm talking about the code that gets produced, not the tool itself. Of course each piece of generated code will be unique based on any unique inputs to whatever template you select. Is that what makes it yours? I know people will probably make assumptions because we all do it - however has anyone actually looked at what the implications of this is? Regards, Tony
