Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 10th May 2012 05:00 UTC
Thread beginning with comment 517564
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It all comes down to NINE (9) lines of code, now...
A freaking array range-check in java, no less.
And, get this, the programmer accused of doing the copying is the same programmer that wrote the original code...
A freaking array range-check in java, no less.
And, get this, the programmer accused of doing the copying is the same programmer that wrote the original code...
In order to be a copyright violation, the copied code must constitute a major element of the derivative work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work
"In United States copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major, copyright-protected elements of an original, previously created first work (the underlying work)."
Nine lines does not constitute a major element of Dalvik nor Android.
There are no damages to be claimed here.




Member since:
2005-07-24
It all comes down to NINE (9) lines of code, now...
A freaking array range-check in java, no less.
And, get this, the programmer accused of doing the copying is the same programmer that wrote the original code...
Perhaps, just perhaps, we need to extend, by law, forced forgiveness of these types of situations. Still require the end of use of the copyrighted work, but not permit any punitive damages when it is quite obvious the code could have been easily recreated by simple incidental recollection.
I wrote a program many years ago to check for the death of a thread, I was contacted that my code appeared to be a near direct copy of code I had never even seen. My variable names, indents, spacing, and more was apparently spot-on with the code.
How could that happen?
Well, I learned to program by reading the public APIs, example applications, and documentation from the same source as the program I apparently cloned so closely. ...Seems only natural that my code would be so similar.
As a result, I changed my coding style quite drastically... something which I've had to undo in recent years while once again attempting to code in the public eye.
--The loon