Re: [OT] RE: UDI and Free Software (fwd)

Terry L Ridder (terrylr@tbcnet.com)
Fri, 09 Oct 1998 03:10:23 -0500


Lauri Tischler wrote:
>
> Alex Buell wrote:
> -- snip--
> > (and before you suggest disassembling, it's illegal)
>
> Since when ?
> Disassembly is an Timehonored Way (tm) to find out how things work.
> What do they do if you 'open the box', void warranty ?
>

There is at least one new WIPO treaty presently before the USA Congress
which would make "reverse engineering" illegal.

You may want to refer to http://www.wipo.org

There are also several case studies on the Internet concerning when
disassembly of a program does and does not violate the copyright.

There is also the software license itself, which most explictly
state that you are not allowed to "reverse engineer" the software.

If the USA Congress ratifies the WIPO treaty "reverse engineering"
will become illegal in the USA.

-- 
Terry L. Ridder
Blue Danube Software (Blaue Donau Software)
"We do not write software, we compose it."

entertaining angels by the light of my computer screen 24-7 you wait for me entertaining angels while the night becomes history host of heaven, sing over me ==Entertaining Angels==Newsboys

- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/