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From: ifarqhar@sunb.mqcc.mq.oz.au (Ian Farquhar)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.emulations
Subject: Re: The REAL scoop on the "Gameboy Emulator"
Message-ID: <1443@macuni.mqcc.mq.oz>
Date: 9 Apr 91 00:41:03 GMT
References: <1991Apr7.004130.22285@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu>
Sender: news@macuni.mqcc.mq.oz
Organization: Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Lines: 32

>From Jez San:  (Please indicate that if you quote this message)
>
>by an unknown visitor, and then uploaded onto a bbs.  The fact that
>someone got away with doing that is inexcusable.... but what makes
>it worse is that nowhere on the program did it say it was PD
>or shareware.  So rather than try to find out if the program
>is freely redesitributable, which is wasn't, people just
>copied it and mailed it all over usenet and bbs's.   Dont you think
>thats rather unethical and stupid of people.  Its not usual to
>assume something's PD until proven otherwise.  You should assume
>it belongs to someone unless it says its PD!

I'd like to see a legal argument on this Jez, as it is not clear from
the information I have read that unattributed works are in fact
copyrightable.  Besides, didn't you say that this was a *derivative*
work from one of the widely-distributed PD/Freeware/shareware CP/M 
simulators?  If so, you are on fairly shakey ground there.  The laws
governing derivative works when applied to software are not well
defined.

>Where would our research go if everyone gets a pirate copy of it and pirates
>it?

Happens all the time, and it is the company's responsibility to protect
their research.  This is not to say that theft is right, but I do not
see this case as very clear-cut at all.

--
Ian Farquhar                      Phone : + 61 2 805-9400
Office of Computing Services      Fax   : + 61 2 805-7433
Macquarie University  NSW  2109   Also  : + 61 2 805-7420
Australia                         EMail : ifarqhar@suna.mqcc.mq.oz.au