Thanks, this and all the other responses makes sense. My code is actually just yet-another-engineering of the well-explored area of constraints, and once people see the /functionality/ of my system I am sure they could reproduce it code unseen. That I would not mind. But I think there would be enough subtleties to the implementation that finding similar subtleties in a parallel effort developed after my code was GPLed could raise eyebrows.
An interesting question to me if not the court would be whether an alleged infringer could provide a developmental history showing progressive refinement of their code. I went through about a hundred versions, and I am changing the system again now. I have backups from every week over three years of development, and would expect to see something similar from someone claiming to have hit onthe same algorithmic nuances independently. I have no doubt someone else could independently come up with the same algorithms; the problem shapes the solution, so if we are working on the same problem... again, it just would be suspect if someone said they hit on the same ideas without a developmental history demonstrating refinement over time. thx again for all the input. kenny clinisys John Cowan wrote: > > Rod Dixon wrote: > > > Hence, John's second > > fact pattern switched from an inquiry concerning authorization to create a > > derivative work to a question of whether the Perl program was > > independently created (i.e. original to that author). In my opinion, > > John's hypo is just as likely to lead to litigation as the one he was > > responding to since "reading" the program could be circumstantial evidence > > of copying. > > Yes, of course. Instead of "read" I should have said "examine". > If I observe what your program does and write an equivalent program, > I do not infringe you (unless the ever-irritating DCMA gets into > the act: it forbids some kinds of reverse engineering). > > -- > Not to perambulate || John Cowan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > the corridors || http://www.reutershealth.com > during the hours of repose || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan > in the boots of ascension. \\ Sign in Austrian ski-resort hotel > > -- > license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3 -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3