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Restrictions for use

Posted Jan 17, 2006 9:02 UTC (Tue) by xoddam (subscriber, #2322)
In reply to: Restrictions for use by brouhaha
Parent article: GPLv3: a first look

Note that copying a program from disc to DRAM and from DRAM to processor
cache *is* copying, technically speaking. While some countries have
'fair use' provisions in their copyright legislation (or case law),
others do not. A case can be made that without the implicit licence to
copy given by permission to 'use' a program, running it actually is
covered by copyright law.

Thus withdrawing permission to use a program is something a copyright
holder can effectively do in some jurisdictions. Copyright law can also
compel you to *destroy* unauthorised copies.

The same applies to the copies made of a web page when you read it: An
implicit permission to make a copy is granted by the server when you ask
for a copy. Theoretically this permission to copy could be withdrawn by
the copyright holder.


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Restrictions for use

Posted Jan 17, 2006 15:19 UTC (Tue) by tzafrir (subscriber, #11501) [Link]

If you get too technical, you'll also note that merely the act of disposing of the copyrighted material involves (oh no!) generating yet another temporary copy.

Not to mention that deleting a file does not actually remove its content from the storage. You can't tell exactly when nothing will be left of the content.

Restrictions for use

Posted Jan 20, 2006 1:54 UTC (Fri) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954) [Link]

I think it's still highly speculative that copying code from disk to memory requires a license from the copyright holder. I've heard of rulings like this, but they seem pretty ignorant and I don't think they will hold up.

I compare this kind of copying to copying a book onto my retina so that I can read it (you cannot read a book in the traditional way without causing an image of each page to appear on your retina).

ISTR some distinction about copying into fixed form vs ephemeral form, and that could easily apply to a DRAM copy, and even to a disk cache copy or local filesystem copy.

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