law ==>
software law
<legal> Software may, under various circumstances and in various
countries, be restricted by patent or copyright or both. Most commercial
software is sold under some kind of software license.
A patent normally covers the design of something with a function such as a
machine or process. Copyright restricts the right to make and distribute copies
of something written or recorded, such as a song or a book of recipies. Software
has both these aspects - it embodies functional design in the algorithms and
data structures it uses and it could also be considered as a recording which can
be copied and "performed" (run).
"Look and feel" lawsuits attempt to monopolize well-known command languages;
some have succeeded. Copyrights on command languages enforce gratuitous
incompatibility, close opportunities for competition, and stifle incremental
improvements.
Software patents are even more dangerous; they make every design decision in the
development of a program carry a risk of a lawsuit, with draconian pretrial
seizure. It is difficult and expensive to find out whether the techniques you
consider using are patented; it is impossible to find out whether they will be
patented in the future.
The proper use of copyright is to prevent software piracy - unauthorised
duplication of software. This is completely different from copying the idea
behind the program in the same way that photocopying a book differs from writing
another book on the same subject.
Usenet newsgroup: misc.legal.computing.
["The Software Developer's and Marketer's Legal Companion", Gene K. Landy, 1993,
AW, 0-201-62276-9].
(1994-11-16)
Nearby terms:
software interrupt « Software in the Public
Interest, Inc. « software laser « software law
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