software law

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
software law
law

   <legal> Software may, under various circumstances and in
   various countries, be restricted by patent or {copyright} or
   both.  Most commercial software is sold under some kind of
   {software license}.

   A patent normally covers the design of something with a
   function such as a machine or process.  Copyright restricts
   the right to make and distribute copies of something written
   or recorded, such as a song or a book of recipies.  Software
   has both these aspects - it embodies functional design in the
   {algorithms} and data structures it uses and it could also be
   considered as a recording which can be copied and "performed"
   (run).

   "{Look and feel}" lawsuits attempt to monopolize well-known
   command languages; some have succeeded.  {Copyrights} on
   command languages enforce gratuitous incompatibility, close
   opportunities for competition, and stifle incremental
   improvements.

   {Software patents} are even more dangerous; they make every
   design decision in the development of a program carry a risk
   of a lawsuit, with draconian pretrial seizure.  It is
   difficult and expensive to find out whether the techniques you
   consider using are patented; it is impossible to find out
   whether they will be patented in the future.

   The proper use of {copyright} is to prevent {software piracy}
   - unauthorised duplication of software.  This is completely
   different from copying the idea behind the program in the same
   way that photocopying a book differs from writing another book
   on 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].

   (1994-11-16)
    

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