Ian Lance Taylor wrote:
> The law considers intent, and ignores technical detail. If a person's
> actions are clearly intended to make a copyright ineffective, and if
> the copyright does in fact become ineffective, then the person has
> violated the copyright.
Well, sometimes. The creators of clean-room BIOSes intended to make
the IBM BIOS copyright ineffective. They were able to do so by
attending to technical detail: making sure that none of the developers
had ever seen the details of the IBM BIOS, while being aware of the
interface conventions. Now you can buy a cheap BIOS from any of
several vendors.
--
Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis vom dies! || John Cowan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau, || http://www.reutershealth.com
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau, || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Und trank die Milch vom Paradies. -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)