- Roy Murphy <murphy[_at_]panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 8 Aug 2003 2:43PM -0500, Chris Mohr wrote:
> > No. I believe what my learned friend was suggesting was the minute
> > that one makes a _copy_ of the software, they are liable. The "copy"
> > occurs once the program is loaded into RAM.
>
> I don't believe that a copy in RAM is a copy for the purposes of
> copyright law because the copy is transitory and not fixed in a medium.
> The use of every copyriighted work requires the creation of transitory
> copies. By merely looking at a copyrighted picture, an image -- i.e. a
> copy -- is made on your retina. No one thinks that this copy is
> infringing because it is transitory. I can look through the viewfinder
> of my digital camera at a copyrighted work and have an image of it
> appear on the LCD screen on the back of my camera. But until I operate
> the shutter and cause a copy to be saved in a fixed medium, there is no
> infringement.
Courts have ruled that it is a copy. That does not actually present a problem,
however, because 17 USC 117 makes it clear that if you own a copy, then you can
install it (and modify it if necessary) for use on a single machine. Under
those circumstances, the normal rights of authorization simply don't apply.
However, if you move to a second machine, they do.
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Received on Mon Aug 18 2003 - 18:45:26 GMT