Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!public!valentin
From: valentin@public.BTR.COM (Valentin Pepelea)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re:  Information on Amiga Technical Reference Seri
Message-ID: <3068@public.BTR.COM>
Date: 14 Jun 91 06:06:08 GMT
References: <3036@public.BTR.COM> <22380@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Organization: BTR Communications, Mtn. View, CA
Lines: 39

In article <22380@cbmvax.commodore.com> andy@cbmvax.commodore.com (Andy
Finkel) writes:
>
>> Ever wondered how come these companies are not afraid of having their work
>> plagiarized? The answer is quite simple, copyrights.
>
>Ever hear of "Copyright Unpublished Trade Secrets"  ?
>Apparently not.
>
>Those companies that give source code do so with heavy licensing
>agreements and cost big bucks.  It is conceiveable to me that
>Commodore might do the same, on terms similar to those between
>AT&T and their commercial licensees.

You are confusing the protections accorded by law to copyright holders and
the special licensing agreement that AT&T requires. AT&T, prints at the top
of each source code file "This is unpublished source code of AT&T." And instead
of depending on the copyright law to protect themselves, they require in their
licensing agreements stiff secrecy from their clients. But then, you already
knew that.

To my knowledge, only AT&T refuses to publish (copyright) their software.
Perhaps they are afraid of having their code freely distributed 50 years from
now. Perhaps they are forced to keep the source code secret by the DoD.

>Of course, this is quite a different thing from the source
>being passed around freely!

This is not what I suggest. I suggest that you distribute the source code
eiter in printed form, like the ROM Kernel Manuals, or on disk, changing a
decent fee. ($100?) That constitutes publication. You will then be granted
the protection of the law.

Valentin
-- 
"An operating system without virtual memory      Name:      Valentin Pepelea
 is an operating system without virtue."         Phone:     (408) 985-1700
                                                 Usenet:    mips!btr!valentin
                     - Ancient Inca Proverb      Internet:  valentin@btr.com