Question about the general situation of copyrights to raw/txt progs found on the web

Discussion around the SwissMicros DM42 calculator
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mcc
Posts: 277
Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2017 5:10 am

Question about the general situation of copyrights to raw/txt progs found on the web

Post by mcc »

Hi,

A little confused about the situation I better ask before getting in trouble:

There are several sites includeing those backuped with the WayBackMachine, which lists programs for the HP41x and the HP42s.
Potentially all those will run on the DM42 with no or little tweaking.

If found interesting I would like to put those into the Software Library -- software buys hardware :)

How to handle for example the following situation:
There is a program in raw format found somewhere on the web.
In the title of that page there is the following note:

"Copyright 2001 Johanna Doe. The software is used here by permission."

Loading the raw file is possible, running the program fails, but it can be fixed.

Now: Is converting the file into text format and adapting it to run on the DM42 an illegal act
of decompiling and reverse engineering...do I brake the copyright this way if I make my adapted
text/raw file available here?

How can I/we cope with programs on the web which can be adapted to our beloved DM42?

Cheers!
Meino
DM 42 - SN: 00373, Firmware release v.:3.22. / DMCP 3.24. as compiled by SwissMicros
Hans S.
Posts: 26
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2017 9:08 am
Location: Remstal
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Re: Question about the general situation of copyrights to raw/txt progs found on the web

Post by Hans S. »

mcc wrote:
Fri Jan 05, 2018 10:56 am
Copyright 2001 Johanna Doe.
Meino,

Johanna Doe is most probably the little sister of John Doe - would she ever sue somebody?
But this answers not your question, anyway.

Hans
mcc
Posts: 277
Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2017 5:10 am

Re: Question about the general situation of copyrights to raw/txt progs found on the web

Post by mcc »

Hans S. wrote:
Fri Jan 05, 2018 3:37 pm
But this answers not your question, anyway.

Hans
Yes, you are right.

Cheers
Meino
DM 42 - SN: 00373, Firmware release v.:3.22. / DMCP 3.24. as compiled by SwissMicros
Thomas Okken
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Re: Question about the general situation of copyrights to raw/txt progs found on the web

Post by Thomas Okken »

Any code you find anywhere, that isn't accompanied by a copyright notice with a redistribution-friendly license (GPL, BSD, Mozilla, etc.) or a clear statement that the code is in the public domain, should be treated as not OK to reproduce. "Used by permission" does not imply permission to re-distribute.

Try to get in touch with the copyright holder and get their permission, and if you can't, stay away.
mcc
Posts: 277
Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2017 5:10 am

Re: Question about the general situation of copyrights to raw/txt progs found on the web

Post by mcc »

Hi Thomas,

thank you for your helpful answer and the information! :)

Cheers,
Meino
DM 42 - SN: 00373, Firmware release v.:3.22. / DMCP 3.24. as compiled by SwissMicros
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