Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!public!timm
From: timm@public.BTR.COM (Timothy M. Maffett  timm@btr.com)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: NoiseTracker - where did it come from ? (probably doesn't matter)
Summary: finally some facts
Message-ID: <740@public.BTR.COM>
Date: 20 Oct 90 18:29:51 GMT
References: <1242@kriski.toppoint.de> <1990Oct16.170448.26255@cs.umu.se> <90291.164234UH2@psuvm.psu.edu> <1990Oct19.001413.5368@cs.umu.se>
Organization: BTR Public Access UNIX, MtnView CA
Lines: 63


   I now have a copy of SoundTracker, circa 1987/1988.  In my manual this is the
info given:                                                                
   EAS Software Gbr                                                        
   Ferdiandstrasse 16                                                      
   D-4630                                                                  
   Bochum 1                                                                
   Tel 0234/34307                                                          
                                                                           
The program also says (c) 1987 by Karsten Obarski.                         

In article <1990Oct19.001413.5368@cs.umu.se> dvljhg@cs.umu.se (J|rgen Holmberg) writes:
>In article <90291.164234UH2@psuvm.psu.edu> UH2@psuvm.psu.edu (Lee Sailer) writes:
>>First, a question.  What do the *Tracker family of programs do, anyway??
>>
>>And, a comment.  If the copyright owner (and not the net.police) do not
>>vigorously protect its rights, then it loses them.
>>
>>                                                  lee

  A VERY GOOD point that I have been meaning to make for quite some time.

>The copyright owners in this case does not have net access. Since I can't phone
>them every time you guys say a tracker is PD I simply tell you it's pirate.
>If everyone reasoned like you the only guys with copyrights would be apple...
>
>							Jorgen

   They may not have net access, but examine these FACTS (as opposed to
most things provided in this conversation so far):
   NoiseTracker being accepted for download by GEnie, featured in 
US AmigaWorld's Best of the PD column, featured in various UK
Amiga magazine PD columns (Amiga Computing, Amiga User Int...),
being distributed by MANY PD software houses in both the UK and the
US.

   You may say don't have access to any of these thing either (but I
have bought all of these magizines at street corner kiosks in both
germany and switzerland) but the point is in the US and UK at least
it has been announced/provided by many legitimate sources as a
PD/freely redistributable software program for quite sometime, years
in the case of the UK.  They have had years to pursue any of these
sources and tell them that the software in question is not
freely redistributable (In the case of AmigaWorld and GEnie it probably 
involve only a phone call).  They obviously have not done this.
   In the US at least you must ACTIVELY pursue any possible copyright
infringements, pleading ignorance is no excuse.  It would be safe to 
say that the copyright holder lost any rights long ago (in the US
and UK at least, and anywhere else similar circumstances exists).
Not pursuing thier copyright in a timely fashion is one of the reasons
why the Xerox-Apple suit was dismissed.

   And lets not here any more "look and feel" bs, someone who has
lost there copyright has no basis for "look and feel".

  oh, I called the number above, and it is no longer a valid number.  I
was going to try to contact the parties involved and notify them of the
situation (as I would have thought you and others who claim to
know these people would have done).

lets all use some common sense.

-tim