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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.legal,net.micro
Subject: Re: Modifying Copyrighted ROM's
Message-ID: <6238@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 18-Dec-85 16:51:46 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6238
Posted: Wed Dec 18 16:51:46 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 18-Dec-85 16:51:46 EST
References: <1019@homxb.UUCP>, <4712@alice.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 37

> If those companies who sell add-ons are giving you modified IBM ROMs,
> they need permission from IBM also to do so.

As I understand it, IBM to date has a policy of refusing permission.
In general, those companies are probably supplying ROMs that do the same
things the IBM ones do, but which were developed independently.  There is
at least one company (Phoenix?  something like that) which has made a great
deal of money solely by supplying independently-developed IBM-workalike ROMs
to the PC-clone industry.

> The law as I understand it is extremely simple:  you need permission
> from the copyright holder in order to make a copy of a copyrighted
> work.  Period.  It doesn't matter what you're using the copy for.

There are certain exemptions for "fair use", which essentially means use
that does not deprive the copyright holder of recognition or potential
income.  Making a copy so that you can use two copies simultaneously in two
computers, having only bought one copy, is out.  But there is nothing illegal
about modifying a copyrighted work.  Alas, current ROM technology does not
permit selective modification.  It is certainly ethical, and quite possibly
legal, to copy for your own experimenting, provided that you only *use* one
copy at a time, and could not fill your needs equally well by buying the
standard ROMs from IBM.  It would seem ridiculous to require you to buy ROMs
from IBM just so you can erase them and use them to hold your own version.
[The fact that IBM *won't* sell you extra ROMs is largely irrelevant.]

Supplying a friend with a copy is much more dubious, unless you make the
copy by erasing and then re-programming his existing ROMs.  You have to
extend the use-only-one-at-a-time rule to him.

Beware that this whole area is a legal minefield, with a lot of fuzzy issues
and unresolved questions.  Note also that what's ethical and what's legal
can be two different things, given the confused state of laws on the matter.
I am not a lawyer; consult an expert before doing anything rash.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry