--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > If the protection on the spec is copyright, there shouldn't be > any problem for implementations.
I'm assuming that's the case, but I'm just curious about distinguishing between spec and code. > "Ideas, Methods, or Systems are not subject to copyright > protection. Copyright protection, therefore, is not available > for: ideas or procedures for doing, making, or building things; Isn't that exactly what any specification is though - a procedure for making and building a language? I don't mean to ruffle feathers - I'm just curious legalistically how the distinction is made. > scientific or technical methods or discoveries; business operations > or procedures; > mathematical principles; formulas, algorithms; or any other > concept, process, or method of operation. > > Section 102 of the copyright law, title 17, United States Code, > clearly expresses this principle: In no case does copyright > protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, > procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, > principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which > it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such > work. > > http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ31.html Right, but since the spec document IS in a sense a "procedure" or "method of operation" I'm not sure quite what the distinction is. For example, if you take a book and translate it into another language, IIRC that is a derivative work and requires permission from the original copyright holder. Couldn't an ANSI Common Lisp implementation essentially be viewed as a translation of the spec from English to C or some other programming language? > I don't agree BTW that an implementation is an instance of the spec. I suppose. I'm just curious how one legally distinguishes between conversion of information expressed in a specification document to information expressed as code and documentation and translation from (say) English to Spanish, the latter of which most definitely falls under prohibited activities due to copyright protection. Just curious. Anyway, more to the point would be how to get the status of the ANSI draft standard clarified. Cheers, CY __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Gcl-devel mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gcl-devel
