Re: Microsoft reserves all rights not expressly granted to you in this EULA.

From: Beth (BethStone21_at_hotmail.NOSPICEDHAM.com)
Date: 02/20/04 

Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 15:39:03 -0000

qual1 wrote:
> Sounds like a marvelous bit of comedy. Although i thought the people
who
> originally made Dos used some of the constructs from Unix as i
remember
> it. Not necessarily the same exact sequence of bytes, general ideas
that
> they got. Which would be normal as that was the prevailing operating
> system Unix at that time.
>
> Unless I just missed the whold point of the last couple of posts. :)

No, no...quite right...but there's things you can copyright and then
there's things you _can't_, basically...plus, something is only an
"infringement" _when_ the original copyright holder complains and a
judge rules it as such...which leads onto the perhaps the most
important bit: The definition of things like "similar" and "copied"
ends up as a subjective judgement call from the judge where there's no
clear evidence that it was literally "stolen", in the end...so unless
you believe you've got a _rock solid_ clear case of copyright
infringement, your lawyer would probably advise you against bothering
(as these things can end up costing more than you could get in return,
anyway ;)...

Plus - and this, I think, is Microsoft's _best defence_ - "parodies"
are exempt from copyright law...and I don't think it would be too
difficult for Microsoft to demonstrate to the satisfaction of a judge
that DOS is a "parody" of UNIX and Windows is a "parody" of Apple's
GUI...sorry, I'm just kidding on that one...but, you never know, if
all else fails and Bill's in a tight spot, it actually _might just be_
the perfect defence!! ;)

Beth :)