Does "modification" include translation to another HLL?

[Rod Dixon]

John's initial point is correct. A copyright protected work's copyright is
infringed by the creation of an unauthorized translation, which is
considered a derivative work. Here is the tricky part; the fact that you
read the work and then created the derivative work does not take the
translated work outside of the original author's copyright interest.
Whether you have an incredible memory or not, a translation is a
translation (I agree that a modification from one computer language to
another is ostensibly the same as a translation from one human language to
another as far as the matter of derivative works). Hence, John's second
fact pattern switched from an inquiry concerning authorization to create a
derivative work to a question of whether the Perl program was
independently created (i.e. original to that author). In my opinion,
John's hypo is just as likely to lead to litigation as the one he was
responding to since "reading" the program could be circumstantial evidence
of copying.

Rod Dixon


On Fri, 7 Dec 2001, John Cowan wrote:

> Kenny Tilton wrote:
>
>
> > Now suppose I have developed a useful hack in language X, which could
> > readily be translated into language Z. Can someone else make that
> > translation and claim ownwership of that software?
>
> Modification definitely includes translation.  If you want to
> translate a novel from Portuguese to Hindi, you need a license from
> the copyright owner, and just so for translating a program from
> Fortran to Perl.
>
> But if I just *read* your Fortran program, and then invent my own
> Perl program that does the same thing, it is not a derivative work;
> it can even have features in common with the original, if those features
> are the only (or the only straightforward) way to accomplish the
> purpose, just as two different implementations of the same API
> can contain the same code if it's the obvious code.
>
> --
> Not to perambulate             || John Cowan <jcowan at reutershealth.com>
>     the corridors               || http://www.reutershealth.com
> during the hours of repose     || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
>     in the boots of ascension.  \\ Sign in Austrian ski-resort hotel
>
> --
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>

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