Thanks, Alex. The fact there may be the scope to make a case is different from a calculation of whether this specific instance is likely to result in one. I do not doubt that it's possible to make a case; I'm saying there is no reason to believe in this specific instance that the risk of litigation is any greater than the risk of litigation on any other grounds, and thus it's not reasonable to restrict the effectiveness of the LibreOffice documentation in order to mitigate this risk. If you have any /specific/ cases that contradict this view I'd love to see them.
Regards S. On 10 Jul 2011, at 12:30, Alexander Thurgood wrote: > Le 09/07/11 23:26, Bernhard Dippold a écrit : > > Hi all, > > Someone suggested I sling in some caselaw or other references on whether > copyright protection is available for UIs : > > US > Just one caselaw review : > http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/crind.htm > > Europe > In European Union Court of Justice Case C-393/09 : > http://kluwercopyrightblog.com/2011/03/24/protection-of-guis-graphical-user-interfaces-some-comments-about-the-ecj-%E2%80%98s-preliminary-ruling-in-bsa-v-ministervo-kultury/ > > involving the BSA against the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic > relating tp television broadcasting of user interface. > > What the latter ruling states is that copyright is not available under > the Computer Program Copyright Directive 91/250/EEC, as that is intended > to protect code per se. However, copyright is available for UIs under > the more general Copyright Directive 2001/29/EC, providing that they > meet the criteria for awarding copyright, i.e. originality, author's own > work, etc. > > > So to all those naysayers who think that no-one sues anyone else over UI > elements - wake up, and take stock. Am I paranoid ? No, but people do > get sued. Do I represent the BSA ? No, but I know "peers" that do, and > believe me, love it or hate it, the BSA do sue people. > > > Please, by all means, get an opinion, hell, get several opinions, most > likely they will all be as different as there are different states in > the world. > > > Alex > > > > > -- > Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to > steering-discuss+h...@documentfoundation.org > Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette > List archive: http://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/steering-discuss/ > All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted > -- Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to steering-discuss+h...@documentfoundation.org Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/steering-discuss/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
