PROMs and Copyrights...

[Roger Heflin]

On Tue, 26 Jan 1999, Dave Williams wrote:

> 
> -> Actually, they are not modifying code...
> -> They are modifying look-up tables.  There is no copyright or patent
> -> that covers timing curves, fuel curves etc...
> 
>  US and European copyright law doesn't distinguish between "code" and
> "data."
>                                                                  

The real question is could someone buy say 100 books, and modify a
word and resell it?   I don't think this would violate copyright, and
under the same conditions buying a computer with the right to run a
given set of code, and adjusting it, should also not be a copyright
violaction.  You have right to one copy, you only have 1 copy, you
have just corrected/adjusted a byte.  Now if you sold that to others
that did not also have a legal license to run one copy (computer from
someone else other than original prom writer) then you could be in
trouble.


				Roger