well... it's not really offtopic, given we're all working in a free software project that can be directly affected by copyright law.
On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 7:57 PM, Bric <bric@...2538...> wrote:
On March 22, 2013 at 6:31 PM Felipe Sanches <juca@...2270...> wrote:
The text of the United States copyright law...
The US Copyright Act of 1979?
Quite outdated. (I mean, think of the computer industry revolution(s) that have happened since!) It doesn't even contain the word "algorithm"; yet, we know, indisputably, that the key ingredient in creating software are the algorithms.
The MP3 format is copyrighted for its algorithm, and not for the particular expression of that algorithm in some particular computer language (i.e., implementation). Using deductive reasoning, and the contrapositive, in particular, (if A then B --> If not B then not A): If it was the particular expression of the algorithm in, say, C code, that was copyrighted, then I'd be free to express that same algorithm in Python. But Im not.
Yes, I know, the above is a simplification, but I think it's an ongoing debate, and your invocation of the 1979 act DOES have merit (of course!) but it's not as simple in the court rooms.
(I don't mean to call for the debate HERE, on this mailing list; that's, obviously, off-topic, or tangential, at best)
On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 7:28 PM, Bric <bric@...2538...> wrote:
On March 22, 2013 at 6:24 PM Felipe Sanches <juca@...2270...> wrote:
An actual implementation of a feature is copyrightable. A mere idea for a feature is not.
Your source for this?
Felipe
On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 6:56 PM, Bric <bric@...2538...> wrote:
On March 22, 2013 at 5:03 PM Felipe Sanches <juca@...2270...> wrote:
On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 5:11 PM, Bric <bric@...2538...> wrote: > -------------------- > > As far as I know this is my original idea, and I'd like to "bequeath" > it > to > Inkscape and other GPL-licensed applications. So, just to be sure no > commercial > app hijacks this feature (the concept/algorithm) and claims it as its > own > (and > prevents open-source apps from acquiring it), I hereby declare the > afore-mentioned feature to be under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE, > v3, > as > spelled out by the Free Software Foundation. > > Again, this is just in case it hasn't been developed yet, although i'm > actually > hard-pressed to believe that it doesn't yet exist somewhere, and in > case > there's > a looming threat of some commercial-venture grabbing the feature > before > it > gets > integrated into some GPL'ed app (hopefully into Inkscape) > > ------------------------------
Oh boy! Software licenses apply to copyrighted code implementations, not to ideas for features... Only a software patent would restrict the implementability of an idea. And I don't think it's wise to prohibit someone to implement something.
The GPL doesn't prohibit anything except one thing: prohibiting.
It's the one paradoxical exception - prohibit to prohibit. (I think that's the distinct essence of the GPL concept)
Similar to "tolerance and intolerance". If we posit that "tolerance" is a good thing, and should be maximized, then the only thing not to tolerate is intolerance.
If you read my original post, I say: just in case some commercial venture grabs the feature and precludes everyone else from using it.
I attended POSSCON 2012, and sat in on John Hall's lecture on copyright and GPL: copyright and patent warfare is no legal joke, and is being waged in full throttle.
Also approached him after the lecture and further asked him for explanations of it all — alas, one needs to be on guard against being blind-sided by unfair practices. Yes, a concept and an algorithm can be copyrighted. Perhaps THIS concept is relatively too trivial and easy for anyone to bother. But I just wanted to be sure it is dedicated to GPL, as it would thus be SHAREABLE BY ALL. Might be trivial code-wise, but it would be tremendous time saver for certain inkscape tasks, and might even facilitate new creative moves.
Felipe
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