Re: Linux GPL and binary module exception clause?

Shawn Willden
2003-12-05T16:38:32Z

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On Friday 05 December 2003 07:03 am, Ryan Anderson wrote:
> Compile it.
> Run the resulting executable (ignoring the case law that says copying
> into ram is a copy under copyright law)

That case law can be safely ignored in the US, since it was superseded by
real law, passed in 1980. Per section 117 of Title 17 of the US Code:

- ----------------
(a) Making of Additional Copy or Adaptation by Owner of Copy. —
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement
for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the
making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided:

(1) that such a new copy or adaptation is created as an essential step
in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine
and that it is used in no other manner, or
- ----------------

So copies to disk and RAM that are "an essential step in the utilization of
the computer program" are non-infringing.

Shawn.
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