Wired Article on the GPL

[Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.]

> Justin Wells wrote:
>
> > Usually, though, in order to run it you have to copy it into memory, and
> > without a specific grant, you don't have the right to make that copy. I
> > thought there was a court decision in the US which determined
> that copying
> > into RAM was "fixation" in copyright law.

Yes. The case is the Mai Systems case, and it's now the law of the land in
the U.S. and elsewhere.

> >
> > It's not clear to me that you are entitled to copy a program into
> > RAM just because you are the owner and have ordinary copy rights.
>
> This term "copy rights" is misleading if it means (as I suppose)
> "the rights of the owner of a copy", as it looks too much like
> "copyrights".
"Copyright" oes refer to a bundle of rights. It does not, however, refer to
the owner of a copy, but, instead, to the copyright holder. Consequently,
copying a program into RAM constitutes a copy, and an infringement suit
could be based on that kind of copying. Nonetheless, RAM copy cases are
often reverse engineering cases that plaintiffs frequently lose.

>
> > It
> > might be that there is some implicit right to copy a program into
> > RAM for the purpose of executing it, if you own the program.
>
> *sigh*  Not implicit but *explicit*.

Yes.
>
> Title 17, Section 117, "Limitations on exclusive rights: Computer
> programs",
> which became law in 1980, is unmistakably clear:
>
> # Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement
> # for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the
> # making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided:
> #
> # (1) that such a new copy or adaptation is created as an essential step
> # in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine
> # and that it is used in no other manner [...].
>
> Since you cannot run a program without copying it into RAM, 117(1) clearly
> creates a safe harbor for this kind of copying, without regard to the
> copyright owner's rights.  So don't worry already: if you own the program
> free and clear (no restrictive EULA license) you can run it on any
> computer you like, and any number of computers that you want, and the
> copyright owner has nothing to say.
>
> (The rest of Section 117 has to do with making archival backups, and the
> rule that you can transfer them if and only if you transfer the original
> with them.)

Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.
www.cyberspaces.org
rod at cyberspaces.org