Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Path: msuinfo!caen!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wupost!darwin.sura.net!blaze.cs.jhu.edu!wilson
From: wilson@blaze.cs.jhu.edu (Dwight Wilson)
Subject: Re: VCR+ code question: Was it cracked and legal action taken?
Message-ID: <1992Jan8.032306.1319@blaze.cs.jhu.edu>
Organization: The Johns Hopkins University CS Department
References: <a_rubin.694801477@dsg4.dse.beckman.com> <1992Jan7.200314.455@tfs.com> <a_rubin.694825694@dsg4.dse.beckman.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1992 03:23:06 GMT
Lines: 20

In article <a_rubin.694825694@dsg4.dse.beckman.com> a_rubin@dsg4.dse.beckman.com (Arthur Rubin) writes:
>
>It seems clear that copyright protects only the individual codes published
>in (say) TV Guide, not the coding algorithm.  I don't think the coding
>table could be copyrighted unless it were published (all 10^8 codes?).  The
>specific device (hardware + software) that generates the code may be
>copyrighted, but it seems unlikely, because it would then have to be
>published.  A reverse-engineered algorithm would not be covered, unless the
>algorithm is patented, or an actually signed license agreement prohibits
>reverse engineering.

Suppose this were true.  It would be interesting to see someone 
generate and copyright a code list well in advance of a particular 
week, and take Gemstar to court for copyright infringement. :-)
Or does this sound to much like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

-- 
-Dwight
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons."
                            -Alien Monster on The Simpsons
