Re: A question about intellectual property
Alex Caracatsanis wrote:
>
> Discussion about restrictive vs permissive licences recently,
> prompted me to
> think about this scenario: suppose I see a flowchart algorithm in a
> professional medium (eg a textbook, or professional journal),
> and I go ahead
> and develop some software heavily based on that algorithm;
> is that software "mine"?
> am I free to sell it as my own product?
> do I have to acknowledge the source of the flowchart?
> do I need to get permission from the author to use the diagram at all?
I will attempt to answer these questions, but someone better informed than me
might come up with better answers.
Ideas can't be copyrighted. Only the material expression (program, book, etc.)
can be copyrighted. Therefore my guess is you would not be in violation of
copyright unless you copied the flowchart itself. And I guess the flowchart would
have to be a nontrivial work.
My guess is the answers would be: YES, YES, NO, NO
But acknowledging the source of the flowchart probably would be good karma and
polite, if the flowchart is a nontrivial work.
Altho ideas can't be copyrighted, software ideas can be patented.
If the idea expressed by the flowchart is patented, you could be in violation of
a software patent.
Do I have all that correct?
According to Richard Stallman, there should be no such thing as a software
patent. I listened to a whole bunch of ogg files from RMS.
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