On Tue, 2010-09-21 at 16:45 +0200, klickverbot wrote: [ . . . ] > I guess I don't quite understand US copyright laws here: Here in Europe, > if somebody accuses you of copying their work, they have to prove that > you in fact did copy it. Let's assume that person manages to convince a > judge that your code is in fact a copy of theirs. To defend yourself, it > should not really make a difference whether you claim that you read that > code or not.
I guess you are not a lawyer, I know I am not. I wonder if you have ever acted as an expert witness? I suspect not, but I know I have. > Even if it mattered whether you looked at the code or not (at least for > Europe, I'm reasonably sure that it does not), how are you going to > convince the judge that you didn't look at the source code? After all, > for Open Source projects, the source code is publicly available at the > internet, and if you did not write your program in jail or deep down in > the ocean in a submarine, there is always the possibility that you could > have looked at the code. You are correct about the UK situation. What an individual has done or not done is not a primary factor, although it can be used in a circumstantial way. > As I said, I don't really know much about the US copyright laws, but if > you are used to common European jurisdiction, this situation seems > pretty bizarreā¦ There is no European jurisdiction in these matters -- at least not yet. What happens in France, Germany, UK, Italy, etc. is independent until such time that a directive is issued regarding copyright law. -- Russel. ============================================================================= Dr Russel Winder t: +44 20 7585 2200 voip: sip:russel.win...@ekiga.net 41 Buckmaster Road m: +44 7770 465 077 xmpp: rus...@russel.org.uk London SW11 1EN, UK w: www.russel.org.uk skype: russel_winder
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