software law
software law
(legal)A patent normally covers the design of something with afunction such as a machine or process. Copyright restrictsthe right to make and distribute copies of something writtenor recorded, such as a song or a book of recipies. Softwarehas both these aspects - it embodies functional design in thealgorithms and data structures it uses and it could also beconsidered as a recording which can be copied and "performed"(run).
"Look and feel" lawsuits attempt to monopolize well-knowncommand languages; some have succeeded. Copyrights oncommand languages enforce gratuitous incompatibility, closeopportunities for competition, and stifle incrementalimprovements.
Software patents are even more dangerous; they make everydesign decision in the development of a program carry a riskof a lawsuit, with draconian pretrial seizure. It isdifficult and expensive to find out whether the techniques youconsider using are patented; it is impossible to find outwhether they will be patented in the future.
The proper use of copyright is to prevent software piracy- unauthorised duplication of software. This is completelydifferent from copying the idea behind the program in the sameway that photocopying a book differs from writing another bookon the same subject.
Usenet newsgroup: news:misc.legal.computing.
["The Software Developer's and Marketer's Legal Companion",Gene K. Landy, 1993, AW, 0-201-62276-9].