Re: [Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>] Re: Debian & BSD concerns
On Wed, 10 Mar 1999, Stephen J. Carpenter wrote:
> You can dissasemble their program and write your own still..not using
> any of their code and still not violate their copyright...
> However...it is hard, if not impossible to prove that you didn't steal
> their code.
>
> This is where the "clean room" idea of reverse engineering comes in.
> 1 person reverse engineers the code and documents it. They would
> extensivly document how the whole thing works. (without code)
> Then hands the docs to a second party who then codes it.
>
> In this manner the coder has not even seen the copyrighted work and
> thus can not possibly copy it
If I was the license holder I would be arguing that the work is a
derivative, void of originality...
or am I thinking more of patent issues...
is that why MS would prefer more complex 'net protocols,
because they could be patented?
- Bruce
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