"somebody" <x### [at] ycom> wrote in message news:4a2811d6@news.povray.org...
> "Darren New" <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote in message
> news:4a280771@news.povray.org...
>> somebody wrote:
>
>> > Does that mean a W2K user has free pass to patch the
>> > XP version to bypass installation/registration?
>
>> I think it does, in the USA, yes. You're allowed to make modifications to
>> something to get around compatibility problems.
>
> Are you positive of that? How is it a "compatibility problem" if I, as a
> vendor, explicitly take measures so it doesn't install or legally register
> on a platform and make it known that it doesn't?
>
> By that token of "compatibility problem", (and should it be feasible), I
> could take a Mac application, decompile it, and compile it for Windows. I
> somehow doubt that's legal.
>
It's entirely legal (again, DMCA not withstanding).  You will undoubted 
breach the license agreement for nearly every commerical software license, 
however.  Similarly, you could write an emulator that will run all Mac 
software on a PC or vice-versa.

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On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:28:42 -0600, somebody wrote:

> By that token of "compatibility problem", (and should it be feasible), I
> could take a Mac application, decompile it, and compile it for Windows.
> I somehow doubt that's legal.

Depends on the license for the software.  Obviously for GPL'ed software, 
that's not a problem.  You can reverse-engineer it all you want and 
compile it for another platform if you so desire.  It's usually easier to 
just acquire the source, though. ;-)

Jim

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"Jeremy "UncleHoot" Praay" <jer### [at] questsoftwarecmo> wrote in message 
news:4a280be2$1@news.povray.org...
> ...the point is that I would have been willing to pay any reasonable 
> price, but it's simply not for sale to me, even if I was physically in 
> Japan while trying to download it for 5 times the price.

Woops.  I began to suspect that I might be wrong here.  If I was in Japan, 
then I would, in fact, not be able to download songs from the US.  Plus, 
they say that they check your country of origin to make sure that it 
corresponds to your address.  So...  If I happen to be living in Japan for 3 
months, without a permanent address, I would be forbidden from downloading 
anything from any iTunes?  Sigh...

---
Terms of Sale
JAPAN SALES ONLY

Purchases from the iTunes Store are available to you only in Japan and are 
not available in any other location. You agree not to use or attempt to use 
the service from outside of the available territory. iTunes may use 
technologies to verify such compliance.

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On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:52:06 -0400, Jeremy \"UncleHoot\" Praay wrote:

> It's entirely legal (again, DMCA not withstanding).

I would like to see a reference for that, though - because I've never 
heard this before Darren mentioned it.

Jim

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"Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message 
news:4a28189c$1@news.povray.org...
> On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:52:06 -0400, Jeremy \"UncleHoot\" Praay wrote:
>
>> It's entirely legal (again, DMCA not withstanding).
>
> I would like to see a reference for that, though - because I've never
> heard this before Darren mentioned it.
>

If we can agree that it's essentially reverse engineering, then: 
http://www.chillingeffects.org/reverse/faq.cgi#QID195

However, decompiling computer software may not legally be defined as reverse 
engineering, so it's less clear.  Nevertheless, DMCA aside, it has never 
been illegal to do anything you want to any copyrighted work, short of 
copying and/or distributing content.  If you buy a Steve King book and add 
your own chapters, it's not illegal until you begin distributing the book 
along with your changes.  Additionally, it's not illegal to sell copies of 
solely your addtions.  Nevertheless, if you sucessfully began selling your 
additions, you would likely get the pants sued off of you, because while you 
did not commit a crime, you have opened yourself up to a civil tort.

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Jim Henderson wrote:
> Are you?

Pretty sure. IANAL.

>  I've not heard that one before, I would think that might open 
> the person making the modifications up to being prosecuted under DMCA.

It depends on whether it was done to enable access to the work or to enable 
copying of the work, I think. IANAL. :-)

>> It's a global market. People have to learn to suck it up.
> 
> That's why these days we don't "buy" products, we "license" them.  The 
> ownership stays with the seller and any use that violates the terms of 
> the license voids the license and your right to use the product.

This is also incorrect. Copywrite v. Prolock showed that federal copyright 
laws override state licensing laws, at least in the USA. If your product is 
copyrighted, you can't use a contract to override the fair use rights.

> I disagree with this model very strongly.  The laws in Germany prohibit 
> this type of license - if you pay for something, you bought it, and the 
> vendor can't restrict you from doing things to what you bought.  So I'm 
> told by people who live there, anyways.

Same here. People just don't believe it, tho. Not because the laws are 
written that way, but because federal copyright overrides state licenses.

I haven't studied the DMCA enough to know what's going on there, but it's 
still going to override licenses.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   There's no CD like OCD, there's no CD I knoooow!

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Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:52:06 -0400, Jeremy \"UncleHoot\" Praay wrote:
> 
>> It's entirely legal (again, DMCA not withstanding).
> 
> I would like to see a reference for that, though - because I've never 
> heard this before Darren mentioned it.

Copywrite v. Prolock.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   There's no CD like OCD, there's no CD I knoooow!

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Warp wrote:
>   Isn't discrimination against customers based on their country of origin
> illegal in most places? I think some people call that "racism" (even though
> it's not the technically correct term).

Now *that* would be an interesting lawsuit in the USA.  Especially since in 
most cases it's illegal to discriminate based on "country of origin" (i.e., 
ethnicity).

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   There's no CD like OCD, there's no CD I knoooow!

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Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> Warp wrote:
> >   Isn't discrimination against customers based on their country of origin
> > illegal in most places? I think some people call that "racism" (even though
> > it's not the technically correct term).

> Now *that* would be an interesting lawsuit in the USA.  Especially since in 
> most cases it's illegal to discriminate based on "country of origin" (i.e., 
> ethnicity).

  Yeah, certainly if there was some physical shop which refused to sell
anything to anyone coming from eg. the middle-East or Africa, that would
certainly cause a huge commotion and a bunch of lawsuits. But seemingly
online stores are exempt from this law, for some reason? Exactly what is
this based on?

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Exactly the reason I have never considered buying an iPod ( well thats not 
true, strictly speaking. My son has one...) I have always opted for a plain 
ol' mp3 player. The one I have now is the best I've had. I bought it 
refurbed. It has a monochrome text screen and a 30GB harddrive. Putting 
songs on it is as easy as copying them to a jumpdrive. iTunes? I have no use 
for it. ( The app does do a very good job at making audion CDs though.)

-- 

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