Messages in this thread |  | | Date | Tue, 20 Aug 96 14:07 PDT | From | (Stig) | Subject | Re: AWE32 Programming Info (Official) Released!!!! |
| |
Patrick Michael Kane wrote: > > Stig, > > The issue is not getting the information, which is easy, but legally > using the information. Even if you break the zip encryption, you are > still doing something illeagal by utilizing it. > > Patrick > <modus@asimov.net>
That depends upon a lot of things. And, it's really quite possible that you're not.
Information is intangible. You cannot use code that is copyrighted because it's protected by copyright. And, you cannot write your own code to implement an algorithm that's protected by a patent.
But "trade secrets" have no protection whatsoever once they've been exposed. That's why you're forced to sign NDAs before you're made privy to trade secrets. There is no legal protection for the secret itself, so the NDA becomes the sole legal recourse of the party with the trade secret.
The issue is an unpublished API. It could copyrighted but that doesn't mean that you can't read it. And, the copyright only has teeth with respect to the reproduction of the document. It CANNOT DICTATE WHAT YOU DO WITH THE INFORMATION THAT YOU HAVE LEARNED BY READING THE DOCUMENT.
I'm not a lawyer, but I've seen lawyers discussing this stuff... Stig
|  |