Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!cbmvax!grr
From: grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: Firmware Piracy
Message-ID: <3500@cbmvax.UUCP>
Date: 23 Mar 88 22:16:55 GMT
References: <1167@percival.UUCP> <18600045@clio>
Reply-To: grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins)
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 33

In article <18600045@clio> berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu writes:
> 
> I also think you may be mislead as to what the law states.  The
> fair use provision of the copyright law gives us the right to
> copy copyrighted material for private, non-commercial use.  In
> that case, then, is it correct to assume that it doesn't
> violate your ethics to copy a ROM for upgrading a modem,
> provided the modem is for personal use only?

Fair use implies that once *YOU HAVE BOUGHT* the copyrighted material
you can do certain things with it, like make a backup copy or use a
backup copy in case the EPROMs in your modem got corrupted.  It does
not mean that you can copy someone else EPROMs for your own use or
if you buy two modems that you can legally buy one set of upgrade
EPROMs and make copies for use in the second modem.

I am somewhat dissapointed that this discussion has broken down into
arguments about whether or not it is ok to rip off Telebit.

You have a Telebit representative on-line, don't go out of the way
to convince them that being accessible can generate too much adverse
publicity or that offering upgrades creates more problems than it's
worth.

It may be that Telebit can be persuaded to improve their upgrade
policies.  If so, making constructive suggestions or comparisons here
or sending mail to Rich would probably be a lot more productive than
these "Firmware Piracy" messages.

-- 
George Robbins - now working for,	uucp: {uunet|ihnp4|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr
but no way officially representing	arpa: cbmvax!grr@uunet.uu.net
Commodore, Engineering Department	fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)