Patrick Elliott <sel### [at] rraznet> wrote:
> http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?
> board.id=soundblaster&thread.id=116332&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

  It seem dubious to me what kind of intellectual property was "stolen"
here.

  Copyright applies to actual software source code. It does not apply to
algorithms nor functionality. If you create a program which behaves in the
same way as another program you are not infringing copyright, as long as
your code is original.

  Claiming that making a program which interfaces with a piece of hardware
is IP theft is absolutely ludicrous. Imagine if, for example, Intel suddenly
claimed that every piece of program (especially commercial ones) ever
written to run on Intel processors was an IP theft and threatened to sue.
They would be laughed off. It would never pass on any court.

  But of course in the US you can sue for anything. Just threatening to
sue is enough for most people. It's a rather effective means to scare
people.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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