Sorry, I should have added the disclaimer of "I have not read the whole thing because I am in the middle of finals but I was forwarded it with that subject line and wanted to share it with other people who might appreciate it and understand it better"!
On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 1:44 PM, Niels Westerlaken < [email protected]> wrote: > Only showing this quotation from the SAS case (ECJ) is way too misleading; > code can be copyrighted. > > "Thus, only the expression of those ideas and principles is protected by > copyright. The object of the protection conferred by Directive 91/250 is > the expression in any form of a computer program, such as the source code > and the object code, which permits reproduction in different computer > languages." > > So what can not be copyrighted are the functionality of a computer program > or the programming language. This will matter in i.e. the Oracle/Google > case. > > > Niels > > > On Wed May 2 19:30:47 2012, Ali Sternburg wrote: > >> An excerpt: >> >> The Court (Grand Chamber) hereby rules: >> >> 1. Article 1(2) of Council Directive 91/250/EEC of 14 May 1991 on >> the legal protection of computer programs must be interpreted as >> meaning 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 of that program and, as such, are not protected by >> copyright* in computer programs for the purposes of that directive. >> >> >> >> The ECJ today ruled that the programming code behind a piece of >> software is not a form of expression and therefore cannot be copyrighted. >> >> Link to ruling: >> http://curia.europa.eu/juris/**document/document.jsf?text=&** >> docid=122362&pageIndex=0&**doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=** >> first&part=1&cid=110132<http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=122362&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=110132> >> <http://curia.europa.eu/juris/**document/document.jsf?text=&** >> docid=122362&pageIndex=0&**doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=** >> first&part=1&cid=110132<http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=122362&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=110132> >> > >> >> >> -- >> Ali Sternburg >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]**> >> >> Harvard College, Class of 2009 >> American University Washington College of Law, J.D. Candidate Class of >> 2012 >> http://www.alisternburg.com >> >> >> ______________________________**_________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.freeculture.org/**mailman/listinfo/discuss<http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss> >> FAQ: >> http://wiki.freeculture.org/**Fc-discuss<http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss> >> > > > -- Ali Sternburg 978.758.7205 [email protected] Harvard College, Class of 2009 American University Washington College of Law, J.D. Candidate Class of 2012 http://www.alisternburg.com
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