[wplug] copyright issues (was: old PC games?)

Vance Kochenderfer vkochend at nyx.net
Tue Mar 13 20:30:31 EST 2007


Patrick Wagstrom wrote:
> A good spot to start is by just reading US Code Title 17, which covers
> copyright.  It's a long slog, but you'll be thankful for it afterward --
> most of it is written in a pretty straightforward manner.

Which you can find at
<http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/17/toc.html>.

> As far as other very relevant copyright cases, Betamax is a very
> important one that it's helpful to review just to make sure you
> understand it.  There's some good stuff in some of the pay online
> databases, but I'm assuming that not anyone has the ability to search
> those.  The EFF has a good archive of the case documents

You can find the Sony v. Universal City "Betamax" decision here:
<http://laws.findlaw.com/us/464/417.html>.

In addition to Supreme Court decisions, FindLaw also has circuit
court decisions (only going back to 1996).  Their search function
isn't all that great; it's best to know the exact citation, or at
least the names of the parties involved (or use Google with
site:findlaw.com).  But it's at least cheaper than paying for a
Lexis or Westlaw subscription.  <http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/>

Vance Kochenderfer        |  "Get me out of these ropes and into a
vkochend at nyx.net          |   good belt of Scotch"    -Nick Danger


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