Alt-BEAM Archive

Message #07634



To: alt-beam@egroups.com
From: Terry Newton wtnewton@nc5.infi.net
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 12:55:16
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Thrashing a moribund equine


At 12:17 AM 11/12/99 -0700, John A. deVries II wrote:
>WHAT WORKS ARE PROTECTED?
>Copyright protects "original works of authorship" that are fixed in a
>tangible form of expression. The fixation need not be directly perceptible
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>so long as it may be communicated with the aid of a machine or device.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

According to this, circuits are copyrightable, as any circuit can
be converted to a net-list whose elements by nature can appear in
any order, therefore it either is or is not the circuit in question.
The machine or device that performs the translation is the human
brain, although fancy software could accomplish the same task.

I'd say anyone ripping a copyrighted circuit is on shaky legal
ground, and can be open to how a judge interprets it. I have not
surfed the referenced site, but I am sure if it did specifically
exclude circuits you would have pointed that out, so I assume
circuits are not specifically excluded. And circuits are IMHO
tangible forms of expression. No matter how drawn.

I might be wrong... but that's how I interpret the statement.

Terry Newton

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