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This package was debianized by Tommi Virtanen tv@debian.org on
Sun, 17 Jan 1999 22:21:06 +0200.
It was downloaded from ftp://koobera.math.uic.edu/www/dot-forward.html
Upstream Author(s): D. J. Bernstein <djb@koobera.math.uic.edu>
<djb@pobox.com>
Copyright:
You may distribute unmodified copies of the dot-forward package.
In ftp://koobera.math.uic.edu/www/softwarelaw.html DJB says
In the United States, once you own a copy of a program, you can
back it up, compile it, run it, and even modify it as necessary,
without permission from the copyright holder. See 17 USC 117.
[...]
Patches
According to the CONTU Final Report, which is generally
interpreted by the courts as legislative history, ``the right to
add features to the program that were not present at the time of
rightful acquisition'' falls within the owner's rights of
modification under section 117.
Note that, since it's not copyright infringement for you to apply
a patch, it's also not copyright infringement for someone to give
you a patch. For example, Galoob's Game Genie, which patches the
software in Nintendo cartridges, does not infringe Nintendo's
copyrights. ``Having paid Nintendo a fair return, the consumer may
experiment with the product and create new variations of play, for
personal enjoyment, without creating a derivative work.'' Galoob
v. Nintendo, 780 F. Supp 1283 (N.D. Cal. 1991), affirmed, 22
U.S.P.Q.2d 1587 (9th Cir. 1992). See also Foresight
v. Pfortmiller, 719 F. Supp 1006 (D. Kan. 1989).
Free software
What does all this mean for the free software world? Once you've
legally downloaded a program, you can compile it. You can run
it. You can modify it. You can distribute your patches for other
people to use. If you think you need a license from the copyright
holder, you've been bamboozled by Microsoft. As long as you're not
distributing the software, you have nothing to worry about.
..so this leaves us with the right to distribute unmodified sources
and distribute and apply patches (but not distribute the modified
sources or binaries!).
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