Source Code & Copyright 182
cunamara writes "Patently-O has posted a discussion of Aharonian v. Gonzales . Aharonian is trying to build a database of source code as a repository of prior art. The interesting thing is in part of the decision, which is that "Conversely, if plaintiff independently creates software that is functionally identical to other software, he does not infringe any copyright on the other software's source code, even if his independently created source code is nearly identical to the copyrighted source code." Interesting. But how does one defend "nearly identical" independently created source code from a copyright infringement lawsuit?" I'm actually not as interested in the copyright side of things as I am in the notion of using something like that for prior art of software patents. The argument that source code is uncopyrightable, with some extensions could be applied to almost all, say, fiction stories since no one's written a truly new story in like five thousand years.
Heh? 5 thousand years ago? (Score:2, Funny)
People wrote original fictions back 5 thousand years ago? heh! Imagine that.
Mountain: the final frontier.
These are the voyages of the Bare-Foot Enterprise. Its five stone mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new food and new women; to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Ahh... that's where it came from...