Re: what does a patent restrict?

On Mon, 11 Oct 1999, Karsten M. Self <kmself[_at_]ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 8 Oct 1999, Lynn Winebarger <owinebar[_at_]free-expression.org> wrote:
> >
> > On Thu, 07 Oct 1999, Karsten M. Self <kmself[_at_]ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Copyright grants the right to authors to control (deny or allow) the
> > > making of copies. A legal license is a shorthand mechanism for
> >
> <snip>
> >
> > But you don't need a license to make use of a program. That's in
> > section 117 (I think) of the copyright statute. It would be better for
> > courts to come out on the side that making personal copies for personal
> > use is fair use. At least in the normal circumstances (i.e. I'm not
> > talking about someone who has a home network and two members of the
> > family run the software on two different machines at once - though
> > running at different times might be fair).
>
> 17 USC 102 rights granted to authors: to reproduce; prepare derivative
> copies by sale or other transfer, rental, lease, or lending; to perform
> a work publicly; to display a work publicly; to perform a work publicly.

I believe Bruce meant to type Section 106, not 102. Mr. W would do well to note the plethora of case law strictly construing Section 117 to apply only to the "owner" of a copy of a program, and not to a mere licensee. Many license agreements expressly withhold "ownership" of the copy for this reason. Licensors have successfully defeated Section 117 defenses on that basis.

Andrew C. Greenberg
<werdna[_at_]gate.net> Received on Wed Oct 13 1999 - 13:01:11 GMT