Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!weyrich!orville
From: orville@weyrich.UUCP (Orville R. Weyrich)
Subject: Re: Software Copyright
Message-ID: <1991May15.021627.10190@weyrich.UUCP>
Reply-To: orville@weyrich.UUCP (Orville R. Weyrich)
Organization: Weyrich Computer Consulting
References: <3287@legs.UUCP>
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 15 May 91 02:16:27 GMT

In article <3287@legs.UUCP> kaz@ast.COM (Richard Kaczmarek) writes:
>Okay, here goes nothing.  I've been reading a quite a few articles (and
>some law books, since I got interested) about software copyright.  The
>good I've heard is that it protects intellectual property from theft.
>The bad is that it inhibits the advancement of software engineering in
>some form or another.  What are your thoughts?
>

Source code and object code should be given copyright protection. However,
I find the current wave of "look and feel" copyright litigation abhorrent.
(One more reason why I have no desire to ever own a Macintosh).

Worst of all is the trend toward pattenting software. It is all wrong for 
software, where programmers regularly reinvent the wheel simply due to the
information explosion. Consider also the time frames involved:

	It takes years for someone to obtain a pattent. In very many cases
	many folk will have also invented the same "software device" and
	thought to themselves "this is trivial, not worth a patent".
	If then the patent is granted, there's lots of folks that need to
	either pay royalties or else engage in a costly legal battle.

	It becomes a night-mare to develop even a simple piece of software:
	the programmer (or a lawyer) has to do a patent search for each
	idea embodied in a program. We have no technology to do this 
	efficiently (it is the equivalent of finding all possible reusable
	chunks in a program and proving that they do not already exist
	in a library of reusable chunks).

	Nobody can afford to do the required "due-diligence" to determine
	that a piece of software is free from patent infringence. Every
	software developer finds him/herself sitting on a time-bomb just
	waiting for some (unpublished) patent "pending" to be granted.
	Then the patent-holder has a much easier task: search through 
	existing code for a match to his/her patented piece, and file
	suit.

	ONLY THE LAWYERS WIN.

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Orville R. Weyrich, Jr., Ph.D.                   Certified Systems Professional
Internet: orville%weyrich@uunet.uu.net             Weyrich Computer Consulting
Voice:    (602) 391-0821                         POB 5782, Scottsdale, AZ 85261
Fax:      (602) 391-0023                              (Yes! I'm available)
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