Does "modification" include translation to another HLL?

[Lawrence E. Rosen]

This email highlights one of my pet peeves about some open source
licenses.  The word "modifications" has legal significance under
copyright law.  It is one example of what is considered a "derivative
work."  

  A "derivative work" is a work based upon one or more
  preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement,
  dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound
  recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any
  other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or
  adapted.  A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations,
  elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent
  an original work of authorship, is a "derivative work".

17 U.S.C. §101.  Another example of a derivative work listed in the
statute is "translation."  I believe that lawyers should say "derivative
work" when they mean both a modification and a translation.  Otherwise
the license is ambiguous.  

/Larry Rosen

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kenny Tilton [mailto:ktilton at nyc.rr.com]
> Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 1:28 AM
> To: license-discuss at opensource.org
> Subject: Does "modification" include translation to another HLL?
> 
> 
> The open source licenses I have looked at cover "modifications to the 
> software".
> 
> 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?
> 
> I am thinking that "modification" might include translation, or that I

> would have to explicitly mention translation in a license--but would 
> that then hold up?
> 
> thx,
> 
> ken tilton
> clinisys
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