Source Code & Copyright

cunamara writes "Patently-O has posted a discussion of Aharonian v. Gonzales . Aharonian is trying to build a database of source code as a repository of prior art. The interesting thing is in part of the decision, which is that "Conversely, if plaintiff independently creates software that is functionally identical to other software, he does not infringe any copyright on the other software's source code, even if his independently created source code is nearly identical to the copyrighted source code." Interesting. But how does one defend "nearly identical" independently created source code from a copyright infringement lawsuit?" I'm actually not as interested in the copyright side of things as I am in the notion of using something like that for prior art of software patents. The argument that source code is uncopyrightable, with some extensions could be applied to almost all, say, fiction stories since no one's written a truly new story in like five thousand years.

Comments

Once upon a time..

[somersault]

there was a man. This man took an ant, increased its size twenty-fold using an anti-shrink ray, which he patented as the 'grow ray'. He then shoved a coke bottle up the ant's excuse for an ass, and set the beastie on fire. The end.

That's got to be pretty new? _