This is getting very tangential for this list, but there's lots of
assertions flying around with no backing.
Alan Pinstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> I don't think that it matters if it's freeare or shareware or whatever, so
> keep that in mind. I'm not against freeware, just cheap, illegal, unethical
> imitation.
Watch your assertions of what is illegal. While this is not
entirely settled, the resolution of Lotus v. Borland in 1995 was that
a program's user interface is *not* a copyrightable thing, and the
decision was pretty broad. That's the latest and greatest in this
area; unfortunately, the Supreme Court didn't issue an opinion on the
matter.
For lots of material on this and other cases relating to software
copyright, see
http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/6805/articles/int-prop/software-copyright.html,
which is a collection of material from Hal Abelson's excellent "Ethics
and Law on the Electronic Frontier" course.
- Nathan
