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From: ka@spanky.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: Software legalities: another question
Message-ID: <458@spanky.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Aug-83 23:22:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: spanky.458
Posted: Fri Aug 26 23:22:11 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 29-Aug-83 01:38:16 EDT
References: <290@burl.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Labs, Holmdel, N. J.
Lines: 10

A copyright does not protect ideas per se; instead it protects the
expression of ideas.  Or at least that's the general idea.  There-
fore, if you develop a program from scratch that does the same thing
as somebody else's program, you haven't violated any copyright laws.
If you did not have access to the source of the other person's program
there is no way they can claim that your program is just a modified
version of their program.  Remember, though, that the documentation
for the original program was probably copyrighted so you can't repro-
duce copies of it for people you give your program to.
					Kenneth Almquist