🚀 go-pugleaf

When an item like a computer program is first created, it is my
understanding that it is immediately copyrighted. It is NOT REGISTERED
with the Copyright office until such time as you pay the ten dollar
fee and file the appropriate forms.

However, in the past some software has been released with a
copyright notice similar to:

XYZ DATABASE PROGRAM
Copyright 1987 as an UNPUBLISHED work

I have read the manual the copyright office will send you and find
that this is a legal way to copyright a program.

The questions are:

1) Was the AIDS program copyrighted? Did anyone bother to check to
   see if an application was filed?

2) Assume for a moment that it was copyrighted. Can the copyright
   be enforced and can the author collect damages?

3) Does the fact that a program appears to be and may be capable
   of damaging a disk allow give anyone the right to violate a
   copyright?

If you feel that statement three allows someone to violate a
copyright, consider this for a moment.

One of the major copy protection companies uses a scheme which
encrypts one or more tracks of a hard disk drive when someone
installs a copy protected program.

Until such time as the copy protected program is removed the
encrypted tracks are useless,(in fact some people may even call
them damaged) to any program other than the copy protected
program which was installed.

It really is the same thing. If a program is copyrighted, the
fact that it may be a virus, a trojan horse or a legitimate copy
protection package does not imply that it is fair game for some
people to hack apart and provide information about at will.

If in fact the same discussions and information were disclosed
regarding a major company in the spreadsheet market, that company
might (and has in the past) taken legal action against people who
disclosed information or transfered copies of the program.

Do not get me wrong, I think what was done by the creator of the
AIDS trojan was wrong, and he/she should be punished. However the
assumption that just because a copyrighted program happens to be
a virus or a trojan, and as such copyright law may be ignored is
also wrong.


*****************************DISCLAIMER*************************

 The views expressed are my own! I do not speak for, nor do I
 represent any other person, company or educational institution.

*****************************DISCLAIMER*************************