Think of it this way: There's a default licence (absent an explicit
licence statement) that is implicit in copyright law. Copyright law
grants to lawful recipients the right to compile and the right to use --
but not the right to create derivative works or redistribute.[1]
Do you say the law prevents me from taking a legal copy of a copyrighted
work, which is a program, and privately modifying that program for my own use?
Wouldn't that be a bit like owning a legal copy of copyrighted music,
but not having the right to change any of the notes? Or buying a magazine
but having the right to remove any of the pages or to add it to a scrapbook?
Is software treated specially in copyright law?
Surprised,
Stephen North
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