The following message just appeared on virus-l. (I'm not exactly sure
_why_ it was posted there.) Anyhow, it immediately conjured up thoughts
about a certain fascist video card manufacturer...
-Hutch
| Date: Thu, 22 Oct 92 16:57:11 -0400
| From: Dennis Clouse <ISCDEC@uccvma.ucop.edu>
|
| published today (10/22/92) in the San Francisco Examiner is the following legal
| decision on disassembly of software (subject line is title of article):
| - -----------------------(cut here)---------------------------------------
| "In the first binding ruling on the application of copyright law
| to a common process called reverse engineering, a federal appeals
| court said video game maker Accolade Inc. of San Jose could copy a
| video game system's code copyrighted by Redwood City-based Sega
| Enterprises Ltd. in order to design games for the Sega console.
| Reverse engineering is the parctice of taking apart a product to
| see how it works, and using the knowledge to design one's own
| product. During the process, Accolade made a copy of Sega's
| encoded computer program, designed to exclude unlicensed game
| makers, in order to translate the information and extract the key
| to the code. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal in San Francisco
| said the copying did not violate Sega's federally protected
| copyright on it's software package. The court said Sega's
| exclusive rights over it's own programs did not entitle it to
| prohibit another company from learning how the Sega system worked
| and designing games that would fit it, as long as those games
| did not copy Sega games."
| - --------------------------------(cut here)---------------------
|
| - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| DENNIS E. CLOUSE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
| PHONE:510-987-0467 ISCDEC@UCCVMA.UCOP.EDU ISCDEC@UCCVMA.BITNET
| - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
