Ken Arromdee <[email protected]> writes: > On Sat, 7 Feb 2009, Bernhard R. Link wrote: > > 1) The safe way: See what it does, describe someone else not > > knowing the code to write code doing this for you and use that > > code. > > Does that actually work? The description is a derivative work of the > code;
Here's an analogy that I think demonstrates why your assertion isn't so: Person A has written a novel. Person B can write an encyclopedia article that describes in detail (but in their own words) that book. Person A's copyright is not infringed because person B did not make a derivative work of the book. Likewise, I don't think a prose description of the operation of a program is thereby a derivative work of the program. -- \ “If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; | `\ but if you really make them think, they'll hate you.” —Donald | _o__) Robert Perry Marquis | Ben Finney -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected]
