On Seg, 2002-05-06 at 18:22, MJ Ray wrote:
goes far beyond that. Why? To copyright law, isn't software just another written work? We still need to say how software can be used and who can republish it.
No, to copyright law software is not just another written work. There are specific restrictions that only apply to software, like the prohibition of decompiling and the protection given to databases. Some countries even go further than that, by not allowing circumvention of some technical protection measurements. So no, software is not just another written work, nor in copyright law, nor in its own nature.