lkml.org 
[lkml]   [1998]   [Oct]   [10]   [last100]   RSS Feed
Views: [wrap][no wrap]   [headers]  [forward] 
 
Messages in this thread
/
From
SubjectWIPO treaty
Date
> From: Tim Smith <tzs@tzs.net>
> Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 09:55:28 -0700 (PDT)
> Subject: Re: [OT] RE: UDI and Free Software (fwd)
>
> On 9 Oct 1998 ketil@ii.uib.no wrote:
> > Since long. In USA, reverse engineering in order to discover
> > ``trade secrets'' is apparently illegal. Laws vary elsewhere, in
> > particular, the EU allows reverse engineering in order to find
> > out how things work.
>
> However, in the US, reverse engineering in order to discover
> interfaces so you can interoperate with something has been approved
> in the court cases I'm aware of, so provided one is careful (i.e.,
> make sure what one does corresponds to what the people who won
> those court cases did), it should be possible to reverse engineer
> to discover interfaces.

The US Senate passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA or WIPO)
today. If accepted by the House, and signed by Clinton, reverse engineering
for any reason (other then scholarly research for the next 2 years) will be
illegal. It also gives the shrink-wrapped licenses more power, as it is an
addition to the UCE (Microsoft could now say that if you want to sue them, you
have to do so in Burma). Clinton has said he will sign it, and the House has
already passed a similar version, so I would expect them to accept this as is.

=====================================================================
// Chris Giard (a.k.a. Slyglif Cain) | I find my life is a lot
// EMAIL: slyglif@magerealm.com | easier the lower I keep
// URL: http://www.primenet.com/~slyglif | everyone's expectations.
// ICQ: 4481627 | --Calvin 1992



-
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/

\
 
 \ /
  Last update: 2005-03-22 13:44    [W:0.070 / U:0.020 seconds]
©2003-2020 Jasper Spaans|hosted at Digital Ocean and TransIP|Read the blog|Advertise on this site