Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!mephisto!mcnc!ecsgate!ecsvax!utoddl From: utoddl@uncecs.edu (Todd M. Lewis) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Latest code-copying decision Message-ID: <1990Sep14.141758.22496@uncecs.edu> Date: 14 Sep 90 14:17:58 GMT References: <1990Sep11.185105.14201@kodak.kodak.com> <1990Sep12.123323.1760@uncecs.edu> <9496@skinner.nprdc.arpa> Distribution: na Organization: UNC Educational Computing Service Lines: 30 In article <9496@skinner.nprdc.arpa> malloy@nprdc.arpa (Sean Malloy) writes: >Close, but no cigar. These people have _bought_ the computers, and it >is the microcode that is being altered. It's not software, it's >firmware -- an integral part of the machine, without which the machine >is incapable of running software. Bzzzzzt. Firmware is software. I therefore must agree with your statement, rephrased: Without software the machine is incapable of running software. Firmware is protected by copyright. The altered microcode is a derivative work of copyrighted material. There is no grey area here. >An almost exact analogy is to >the new breed of cars with electronically-controlled fuel systems, >where the mixture, timing, et al, is controlled by a ROM program in >order to maximize fuel economy. There is an industry centered around >replacing those ROMs with new ROMs programmed to give the car higher >performance (at the expense of fuel economy). Yup. And of late there is a new breed of machines for wordprocessing, controled by word processing software. Dumping one word processor and using another in its place is routine. If the new word processor is a derivative work of the old one though, either somebody struck a deal or somebody broke the law. You are right in one sense--it is an almost exact analogy. > Sean Malloy | things in the world are a > malloy@nprdc.navy.mil | program patch, and a user Todd M. Lewis (utoddl@next1.mscre.unc.edu)