[A83] Re: Me so curious
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[A83] Re: Me so curious
robvanwijk@gmx.net writes:
> That would be an infringment of copyrights and therefore illegal.
No. Copyright law isn't something magical. It protects the copyright
holder from having their works copied without their permission. As long as
the OS did not copy any of TI's code, merely running applications would not
be illegal under standard copyright law.
> Because (contrary to ROM images) TI does lose money on this, they'd
> probably throw in more effort to stop (or sue) you.
They might. But all in all, I don't think here is a lot of money in TI
applications. At least, not enough to be threatened by something like that.
> I'm not a lawyer, but I'd expect that a function which only purpose is
> something illegal (mp3 in itself is not illegal, because in theory it
> also serves legal purposes) would make the programmer responsible (at
> least to some degree).
You are confusing two different issues. The DMCA makes it illegal to create
or sell devices whose primary purpose is infringement. However, this is a
relatively new law and it has still not had a real test in court. It could
very well be found unconstitutional. As far as I know, you cannot be sued
over things which allow copyright infringement. If something is dangerous
and it injures people, then there is a liability issue. But you don't get
sued over a lock picking kit.
Standard disclaimer, I'm not a lawyer, I could be wrong. By "cannot be
sued", I mean that the person suing would not win. You can file suit over
anything. Whether not you win, or if it even goes to court, is the issue.
Not to mention getting counter sued for legal fees and other damages, which
is pretty much a guaranteed win for a frivolous lawsuit.
--
David Phillips <david@acz.org>
http://david.acz.org/
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