Re: copyright under stress

On Wed, 14 Jun 2000, Rob Jones <rjones[_at_]robjob.com> wrote in part:
>
> what about the basic premise that many software companies have
> with regards to their source code. Microsoft even made this
> argument in their recent trial, basically stating that they had
> done nothing wrong by not allowing access to their source code,
> because that is a basic tenant of copyright ownership that they
> do not have to provide the source code to anybody.

That is a basic tenet of trade secret law, not copyright law. The opposite is a tenet of copyright law: when you register a copyright you are REQUIRED to make the work accessible by depositing a copy of the work in the Library of Congress which will be accessible as part of the public record. In respect of the tension between the need for trade secret protection and the public interest served by copyright law, the Library of Congress allows deposits of source code to be redacted by up to 49%, so they cannot be copied by competitors. But that does not make restriction of access a "tenet" of copyright.

Robert C. Cumbow
 Graham & Dunn PC
 1420 Fifth Avenue, 33rd Floor
 Seattle, WA 98101-2390
 206.340.9619
 206.340.9599 fax
 rcumbow[_at_]grahamdunn.com
 http://www.grahamdunn.com/  

        Big law firm experience
without the big law firm experience SM

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
This email message may be protected by the attorney/client privilege, work product doctrine or other confidentiality protection. If you believe that it has been sent to you in error, do not read it. Please reply to the sender that you have received the message in error. Then delete it. Thank you. Received on Thu Jun 15 2000 - 15:55:09 GMT