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Is the concentration on the code wise?
If I have understood it correctly if someone took a piece of GPL'd code and then changed it and attempted to copyright it then they would be in breach of the GPL.

If however they looked at the code (or observed the behaviour of the program), wrote a specification and then gave that specification to a group of programmers who had never seen the original code then they would be quite within their rights to copyright this code (and to not release the source).

The issue of software patent is an interesting one. I would say a program is a mathematical expression, for a mathematical expression to be valid it must have been proved and the proof peer reviewed. Can someone patent a mathematical expression, has anyone ever done it? Isn't the mathematics just waiting out there to be discovered and therefore cannot be "invented"?
Posted by: jorwell   Posted on: 05/30/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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Is the concentration on the code wise?  jorwell | 05/30/07
Misunderstanding the GPL  Erik Engbrecht | 05/30/07
However  jorwell | 05/30/07
So you could copyright it but it's okay if you don't distribute it?  jorwell | 05/30/07
Copyright  Erik Engbrecht | 05/30/07
Platonism and patents  bportlock | 05/30/07
The first part is a telling case against software patents  jorwell | 05/30/07
The loophole that the pro-patent types try to exploit ...  bportlock | 05/30/07
Thanks for clarifying that  jorwell | 05/30/07
Logic and computation.  Anton Philidor | 05/30/07
I can't be responsible for mathematical illiterates  bportlock | 05/30/07
Software _is_ a form of applied math  b3timmons | 05/30/07
Math, Logic, and Code  Erik Engbrecht | 05/30/07
How can anything engineered be patented, then?  Anton Philidor | 05/30/07
Re: How can anything be patented  b3timmons | 05/30/07
Pay attention Anton!  bportlock | 05/30/07
Linked article out-of-date.  Anton Philidor | 05/30/07
Completing the sentence.  Anton Philidor | 05/30/07
Don't confuse them.  bportlock | 05/30/07
Well, you confused me.  Anton Philidor | 05/30/07
The english language is inherently slippery  bportlock | 05/30/07
I've posted this one before - but I will do it again now  jorwell | 05/30/07
A "set of recipes"?  jorwell | 05/31/07
jorwell agrees with Anton  Erik Engbrecht | 05/31/07
Erik, I don't follow your reasoning at all  jorwell | 05/31/07
Of course programmers use logic.  Anton Philidor | 05/31/07
Quotidian Logic?  jorwell | 05/31/07
Mmm yes  jorwell | 05/31/07
Books for the literary illiterate  Erik Engbrecht | 05/31/07
Someione who never had a course in mathematics...  Anton Philidor | 05/31/07
Mathematics phobia  jorwell | 05/31/07
The argument of the pro-patent lobby ....  bportlock | 05/30/07
Interesting  jorwell | 05/30/07
No - Is the concentration on the codeis not wise  murph_z ZDNet Moderator | 05/30/07
Devil's deal.  Anton Philidor | 05/30/07
Oh dear - more delusions!  bportlock | 05/30/07
raising far more questions - for example:  murph_z ZDNet Moderator | 05/30/07
That's not the point.  bportlock | 05/30/07
Faust received a girlfriend...  Anton Philidor | 05/30/07
That IS the point  bportlock | 05/30/07
Yes.  Anton Philidor | 05/30/07
I think I misread the part you're quoting  bportlock | 05/30/07
Misinterpreting the FSF's mission  b3timmons | 05/30/07
FSF agenda is not about 100% GPL  b3timmons | 05/30/07
I think that's probably right, but...  murph_z ZDNet Moderator | 05/30/07
Sorry for the inflammatory tone  b3timmons | 05/30/07
Specific example is a "who cares"  Roger Ramjet | 05/30/07
Confusion  mattflaschen | 05/30/07
Murphy misinterprets... again.  dave.leigh@... | 05/31/07
re: How can anything engineered be patented, then?  dave.leigh@... | 05/31/07

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