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From: fnf@unisoft.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.legal,net.micro
Subject: Re: Modifying Copyrighted ROM's
Message-ID: <625@unisoft.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 19-Dec-85 20:35:34 EST
Article-I.D.: unisoft.625
Posted: Thu Dec 19 20:35:34 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Dec-85 06:36:21 EST
References: <1019@homxb.UUCP> <4712@alice.UUCP>
Reply-To: fnf@unisoft.UUCP (Fred Fish)
Organization: UniSoft Systems, Berkeley
Lines: 19
Xref: watmath net.legal:2657 net.micro:13212

In article <4712@alice.UUCP> ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig) writes:
>I'm not a lawyer, so take this with a large grain of salt.
>
>> I am curious as to the legality of taking a copyrighted ROM from my
>> own computer and making a copy of it (with changes) and then using this
>> new ROM in my computer (I had to do this to support an oddball disk on
>
>When you made a copy of the IBM ROM without their permission, you
>violated the copyright law.  Not only that, but you've admitted
>it. If IBM decides to sue you, I expect you won't have a chance.

I'm not so sure.  Seems that the law allows you to make *archival*
copies of copyrighted software.  If they only went after you for making
the copy, you could always claim you were just backing it up :-).

If I was on the jury, I doubt I would convict him.  Now giving away copies,
that is another matter.

-Fred