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Subject: Re: What constitutes a clone?

Author: Uri Blass

Date: 21:43:26 02/15/05

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On February 16, 2005 at 00:25:54, Pallav Nawani wrote:

>On February 15, 2005 at 21:49:45, Lance Perkins wrote:
>
>>Consider this scenario:
>>
>>You saw someone else's code, then you went out and wrote your own code, which
>>ended up to be like the other code.
>>
>>Even in this scenario, you could be violating the copyright of the other code.
>>
>>The only way around this is with the 'clean room' approach. If you want to make
>>a similar or compatible code, you should have not seen the other person's code.
>>Instead, somebody else would see it, describe to you what it does, then you go
>>and write the code.
>
>This is no different from the first case you have mentioned. Important are
>ideas, not code. Code is just an implementation. Whether you get the idea
>directly from looking the code, or whether you get it indirectly how does it
>matter? Unless, of course you _copy the implementation_. If you look at
>somebody's implementation and then go and write your own, assuming that it is
>not word by word copying and just changing the variable names, it is not a
>clone. At least not by my definition.

The problem is that 2 people who do the same implementation may use the same
structure except different name for variables.

Probability is very small but it is not impossible.
I do not like accusing somebody of cloning when he is not quilty(even if the
probability is small) so the only solution is to allow everything.

Uri

Uri



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