Author: Steve Maughan
Date: 15:14:14 05/03/02
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Slater, I don't disagree with what you have said but my two cents is as follows: Back in 1993 I was sued for breach of copyright. It was a speculatuve case and I won with damagers. In the four months where I visted lawyer on a regular basis I discovered quite a bit about copyright law. One principle that I did encounter that seems relevant is, "suppose you go to see a movie. You anjoy the movie and when you get home you write down a story similar to the one you have seem. It is based upon your own interprtation of what you remember. You sell the story" - this does not infringe the copyright. Isn't this similar to "Cirano de Bergerac" and "Roxanne". In contrast, "suppose you see a movie. As you watch you make copious notes. When you get home you transcribe your notes into the full plot you have seen. You sell the story" - this *does* infringe copyright. My conclusion is that copyright law, like most law, is not as hard and fast as one might suppose (or like). Nevertheless, IMO if someone takes a chess opening book and mechanically copies / interprets it (without analysis) into a form they can use or sell then this is probably a breach of copyright. If on the other hand someone uses a commercial opening book to improve their own book, by human or computational methods, as long as it's not just a blatant copy then it's probably not copyright infingement. Note the word probably because it is likely to be dependent upon many individual circumstances, situations and judges!! Anyway that's my two cents, Regards, Steve PS this is bases upon UK law - it may differ around the world!
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