I don't want to get into this particular discussion. I think viable approaches are on the table and I have nothing to add.
As an armchair copyright maven, here is something on the specific case of translations: In US Copyright, one of the exclusive rights of a copyright holder is the creation of translations of the copyrighted work. (Translation is included under "derivative work" by definition). I can't tell from the brief statement Gianluca provides whether the Italian law is addressing the same point, but it appears to be. Since a translation is explicitly included as a possible "work made for hire" in the US Copyright regime, a licensed (i.e., non-infringing) translation is presumably copyrightable subject matter. Who holds the copyright is probably subject to the license agreement. In the various open source licenses that apply to literary works (including software but certainly documentation), the conditions on derivative works apply transitively to translations of those licensed works as well. - Dennis E. Hamilton tools for document interoperability, <http://nfoWorks.org/> dennis.hamil...@acm.org gsm: +1-206-779-9430 @orcmid PS: When a different programming-language implementation of the same function achieved in another work fails to be a derivative work of the other work is a touchy subject and I'll not go there. That's what judges are for and the prudent approach is to avoid ever having to come under such judgment. -----Original Message----- From: Gianluca Turconi [mailto:in...@letturefantastiche.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 01:26 To: ooo-dev@incubator.apache.org Subject: Re: Hunspell dictionaries are not just words lists (+ other matters) Andre Schnabel ha scritto: > Yes, but this is very likely some gray area in copyright law. It would > be a very long and likely not very friendly discussion, to see if > translation is a creative process (producing an original work). Just to give some free advice to common law citizens or other people living in other countries, the Italian copyright law (law 633/41, Section VI, article 64-bis, first paragraph, point b) *expressly *includes software translations among the rights protected by law. Regards, Gianluca -- Lettura gratuita o acquisto di libri e racconti di fantascienza, fantasy, horror, noir, narrativa fantastica e tradizionale: http://www.letturefantastiche.com/
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