[cross-posted to cni-copyright and cyberia-l; sorry]
Has anyone read NLFC v. Devcom Mid-America, decided by the 7th Circuit on Jan. 19, 1995? I just read the BNA blurb on that case. The case apparently holds that accessing a copy of a computer program remotely over a dedicated phone line using a "dumb terminal" does *not* make an electronic copy of the program. This was true even though the defendants printed out the source code of the program in their office, presumably having routed it to their local printer through the dumb terminal connection.
The BNA excerpt doesn't discuss RAM fixation. But if the program was printed from the remote site, wouldn't it have to be stored in RAM at that site, at least for the duration of the printing? Does this case hold in effect that loading a program into RAM is not fixation for copyright purposes(in conflict with the 9th Circuit's disturbing result in MAI v. Peak Computing)?
Mark Lemley
Assistant Professor
University of Texas School of Law
mlemley[_at_]mail.law.utexas.edu
Received on Thu Feb 16 1995 - 22:51:58 GMT
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