Please don't top-post. "Ryan R. Matt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Patents are totally separate from Copyrights. [...] Yes. > Copyrights don't have the same requirements and therefore you can > copyright a software algorithm. No. Copyright applies only to a *specific, copyable expression* of an idea, not the idea itself. Any number of people can express the same algorithm in different ways, and when they commit those expressions to some tangible form such as a program, every one of them is copyrightable separately. The abstract algorithm remains untouched by this. Provided you don't derive your work from someone else's specific copyrighted expression, you can re-express the algorithm in your own way and gain your own copyright in the expression, without being affected by the other implementors' copyrights. -- \ "A man may be a fool and not know it -- but not if he is | `\ married." -- Henry L. Mencken | _o__) | Ben Finney -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]