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From: mckeeman@wivax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: copyright
Message-ID: <19396@wivax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 12-Apr-84 15:26:21 EST
Article-I.D.: wivax.19396
Posted: Thu Apr 12 15:26:21 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 13-Apr-84 20:57:14 EST
Sender: mckeeman@wivax.UUCP
Organization: Wang Institute, Tyngsboro, Ma.  01879
Lines: 44

Speaking as a non-lawyer, I think the following summary
is accurate:

There are three methods of legal protection for software:
patent, copyright, and trade secret.  The body of law in
this area is developing as it comes to grips with the
peculiarities of "intellectual" property.

A patent is a contract with the government to enforce 17
years of control by the patenter in trade for complete,
public, disclosure of the idea.  It is not very popular
because 17 years isn't very long and it is pretty hard to
prosecute.  Some people patent software as a defensive
measure in case someone else tries to stop them from using
or selling their own stuff.

A copyright lasts for the life of the author.  It is
subject to the "doctrine of fair use", which is a set of
limited, but universal, permissions to use copyrighted
material.  The courts seem to be holding that anything that
can be made human-readable (through some device, including
a computer) can be copyrighted.  This extends to ROM which
for awhile was excluded.  Straight ASCII copyright notice
at "address-zero" of the ROM is probably a good idea.
Copyright does not protect the idea behind the material,
only the material itself. 

Trade secrets show up as contractual arrangements between
buyers/users and the owners of software.  The users promise
to keep it a secret.  Illegal users can be sued.  It can
get hard to enforce because it is hard to know when the
secret has been violated or just reinvented.  But that is
what courts and expert witnesses are for.  This is the most
common form of legal protection.

The final alternative is just to make it hard to steal, as
many inventive suggestions on this topic have recently
suggested.

Bill McKeeman
Wang Institute

...decvax!wivax!mckeeman
McKeeman.Wang-Inst @ CSnet-Relay