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From: darryl@ism780c.UUCP (Darryl Richman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.mac,misc.legal
Subject: Re: What is the Copyright Issue?
Message-ID: <9634@ism780c.UUCP>
Date: 5 Apr 88 14:45:58 GMT
References: <4611@june.cs.washington.edu>
Reply-To: darryl@ism780c.UUCP (Darryl Richman)
Organization: Interactive Systems Corp., Santa Monica CA
Lines: 36

In article <4611@june.cs.washington.edu> bnfb@uw-june.UUCP (Bjorn Freeman-Benson) writes:
>Consider music, books and chemicals:
>  * One can copyright a piece of music or a book.  One does not
>    copyright the process of typing it.
>  * One can patent molecules (such as anti-freeze).  One does not
>    patent the process or the machines to make it.

One can also copyright a movie.  This is where look & feel comes from--
audiovisual works.  One copryrights the sequence of images.  This is how
the arcade game manufacturers copyrighted their work.

>The weak analogy in software is:
>  * One can NOT copyright the software.  One can only copyright the
>    source and executable.

One can copyright any written work as a literary work.  So obviously, CODE
can be copyrighted as a literary work.

>Does this make sense?  
>    No.  

Actually, it makes a lot of sense.  Copyrighting the code protects me from
someone stealing my code and using it for a similar purpose, even if the
running program looks different.

Copyrighting the audiovisual aspects prevents someone from building a
duplication of the artistic images that are a part of the interface
(I remind you that Apple has spent a lot of money coming up with those
images).

		--Darryl Richman
-- 
Copyright (c) 1988 Darryl Richman. The views expressed are the author's alone.
	  INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation -- An Eastman Kodak Company
       ...!{cca!ima | sdcrdcf}!ism780c!darryl or darryl@ism780c.isc.com
"I'm disappointed too, but keep in mind that Transmogrification is a new technology." --Calvin