Re: copyright problem (regarding eemu and compatibles(LONG))
This is not legal advice, no solicitor-client relationship is established,
etc.
Actually, "clean room" implementations are typically used to avoid potential
charges of copyright infringement. The basic concept is to take the ideas of
the software, convey those ideas to untainted developers, and those
developers then implement their own "version" of the software from which the
ideas were taken. "Clean room" implementations aren't usually helpful in NDA
and trade secret situations because the ideas are not allowed to be used due
to contractual or confidential relationship restrictions. If the ideas are
not allowed to be used, it would be difficult to "re-implement" in a clean
room.
Also, avoiding copyright infringement liability is not simply a matter of
"not using their code". Copyright infringement liability can attach where
the code has only been unconsciously copied. Indeed, in the U.S., all that
it is required to find copyright infringement liability is access to the
copyrighted work and substantial similarity. So, development can be severely
compromised simply by access to a copyrighted work since the later code can
be found infringing of that copyrighted work simply if it is substantially
similar although no original "code" was used. Consider also in the U.S. that
infringement can exist on several levels of abstraction i.e. infringement
can be found in the implementation, in the object structure, etc. so that
there are many potential avenues for "unconscious" copying.
Just some thoughts......
----- Original Message -----
From: "Edmund GRIMLEY EVANS" <edmundo@rano.org>
To: <debian-legal@lists.debian.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2000 7:49 AM
Subject: Re: copyright problem (regarding eemu and compatibles(LONG))
> Peter Makholm <peter@makholm.net>:
>
> > Would it be posibble to make a clean-room implementation of the
> > compatibility layer?
>
> And why would that be necessary?
>
> As far as I know, if you're not using their code, then you don't have
> to worry about their copyright.
>
> When I read about people doing a "clean-room implementation" it's
> usually to avoid problems with trade secrets and NDAs rather than
> anything to do with copyright.
>
> Edmund
>
>
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