Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.programming > #1529

Re: EU: programming languages and APIs can't be copyrightable

Show all headers | View raw

Rui Maciel wrote:

  court of justice of the EU: The functionality of a computer program
and the
  programming language cannot be protected by copyright

  The purchaser of a licence for a program is entitled, as a rule, to
observe,
  study or test its functioning so as to determine the ideas and
principles
  which underlie that program

  press release at:
  http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2012-05/cp120053en.pdf

  Excerpts:
  - On the basis of those considerations, the Court holds that neither
the
  functionality of a computer program nor the programming language and
the
  format of data files used in a computer program in order to exploit
certain
  of its functions constitute a form of expression. Accordingly, they
do not
  enjoy copyright protection.
  - To accept that the functionality of a computer program can be
protected by
  copyright would amount to making it possible to monopolise ideas, to
the
  detriment of technological progress and industrial development.

  So, what are your thoughts on this ruling?

Most legal protection methods (patent and literature) require full
disclosure
both to define what is protected and as part of the contract for
protection.

This effectively says you can't have it both ways copyright protection
and
no disclosure. It also says that there is nothing wrong with
understanding
a published work. Scholars have been debating the meaning of
literature for
since the dawn of writing.

It remains to be seen how derivative works will be handled.


Walter..
--
Walter Banks
Byte Craft Limited
http://www.bytecraft.com

Back to comp.programming | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar

Thread

EU: programming languages and APIs can't be copyrightable Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-05-03 09:50 +0100
  Re: EU: programming languages and APIs can't be copyrightable "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2012-05-03 11:21 +0200
    Re: EU: programming languages and APIs can't be copyrightable rossum <rossum48@coldmail.com> - 2012-05-03 17:09 +0100
  Re: EU: programming languages and APIs can't be copyrightable Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2012-05-03 04:45 -0500
  Re: EU: programming languages and APIs can't be copyrightable walter@bytecraft.com - 2012-05-04 04:33 -0700
  Re: EU: programming languages and APIs can't be copyrightable walter@bytecraft.com - 2012-05-04 04:39 -0700

csiph-web