[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: gpl as applied to ideas
From: |
Barry Margolin |
Subject: |
Re: gpl as applied to ideas |
Date: |
Thu, 07 Dec 2006 21:53:42 -0500 |
User-agent: |
MT-NewsWatcher/3.5.2 (PPC Mac OS X) |
In article <1165482981.979089.129280@l12g2000cwl.googlegroups.com>,
"Joseph S." <js_dev@rediffmail.com> wrote:
> Can I inspect source code in one language (PHP in particular, with all
> its $'s, ->'s, and =>'s ) and make a program in VB.Net (with
> namespaces, dots(.), and OOP framework) which does roughly the same
> thing?
If your code is basically a direct translation from one language to
another, it would presumably be considered a derived work, much like a
translation of a book from English to French. Copyright gives the
original author control over the creation of derived works as well as
verbatim copies.
The more abstract you make the translation, the less likely it is to be
considered a derived work. For instance, changing from a traditional
program design to OO framework would presumably result in a program very
unlike the original in overall organization. However, it's likely that
many of the methods in the OO version will be straightforward
translations of functions in the original, so you could still run into
problems there.
Any time you've had access to the original source code, and then produce
something that behaves similarly, there's a good chance that you'll be
accused of copying. This is why "clean room" procedures have been
developed -- to document clearly that the authors of the new code did so
without any chance of direct copying.
--
Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***
*** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group ***
- Re: gpl as applied to ideas, (continued)
- Re: gpl as applied to ideas, Barry Margolin, 2006/12/07
- Re: gpl as applied to ideas, Joseph S., 2006/12/07
- Re: gpl as applied to ideas, Joseph S., 2006/12/07
- Re: gpl as applied to ideas, Alfred M. Szmidt, 2006/12/07
- Re: gpl as applied to ideas, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/12/07
- Re: gpl as applied to ideas, Merijn de Weerd, 2006/12/07
- Re: gpl as applied to ideas,
Barry Margolin <=
Re: gpl as applied to ideas, Alfred M. Szmidt, 2006/12/07
Message not available