Oracle Isn't a Linux Company (Motley Fool)

Oracle Isn't a Linux Company (Motley Fool)

Copyright law doesn't restrict the rights to use ideas.

That's what software patent law does. It gives people monopoly over using certain concepts in programming.

Copyright protects work. You made something then nobody can just use it without your permission. It works the same way for a doodle on a napkin in a bar to writing multi-billion dollar applications.

You made it, you own it.

It doesn't stop somebody else from making their own programs or making their own database stuff or doodles or whatever.

""for (i = 0; i < whatever; i++) { ... }

That's so common that I don't think it's copyrightable, and would not have to be refactored to avoid copyright infringement. Nor should it be. So how much of any given program constitutes an original form of expression?""

You wrote something it's yours. If your copying somebody else's stuff without permission it's copyright infringement. It's pretty simple. A single line of generic code is just to trivial to even be considured. Nobody cares.

They have precedent set on what sort of proofs are required before you can be successfully found libal for copyright infringement.Things like the amount of matching code that is required for you to be found liable; programs designed to analis non-trivial simularities between code bases, expert testimony, etc etc

Weither or not something is derived work is up to the judge to decide. Law isn't programming, there is no rigid boundry or interpretation. It's about humans dealing with humans. If your doing something dishonest and your copying code against the license they are going to try to find a way to bust you.

""Probably not very much. Variable and type names, and maybe the interfaces between different parts of a program. Most programs are a sequence of common idioms.""

It doesn't matter weither or not something is a 'unique expression'. If a person wrote a program you can't simply copy the code with out their permission. That's all.

Your making it way to complicated.

If you want to take somebody else's code and obscure it so much that nobody can ever figure out if you stole it or not.. then that's probably something you could get away with, but it doesn't mean it's legal or it's worth the effort. You'd be better of writing your own stuff it would probably be cheaper and faster.

This is very non-theoretical stuff we are talking about. Copyright law is very well established.