🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1ispnuINN4jc@early-bird.think.com> 
barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin) writes:

>In article <1993Jan10.125629.19161@husc3.harvard.edu>
>zeleny@husc10.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny) writes:

BM:
>>>And given this, the terms *do* apply to the token, not the type, since
>>>copyright applies to expressions not ideas (although with software, the
>>>line between token and type is fuzzy).

MZ:
>>As you can see, there is nothing fuzzy about the distinction.

BM:
>I know what "token" and "type" mean.  But in cyberspace, many things that
>are concrete in the real world become ephemeral.  They go back and forth
>from having single to multiple instantiations, depending on point of view.
>For instance, when a program is being run there's a copy in RAM that is
>physically distinct from the copy on disk, but operationally they may be
>identical (for instance, in many virtual memory systems, if someone changes
>the disk copy, the change will be reflected immediately in the memory copy
>as well).

Operational correspondence is not identity.  Hence, your example does
not vitiate the merits of Peirce's distinction.

BM:
>In any case, the notion of copyright only makes sense when attached to
>tokens, not types.  You can't copy a type.

You can, however, instantiate it.  As for your alleged rebuttal, you
are unduly taken by the sound of the word.  Look further, towards its
meaning, and you will find that copyright is defined as a temporary,
exclusive right to the publication, production, sale, or distribution
of a *work*; accordingly, this right would not be abrogated in the
event its holder is forced to resore the work from memory, should all
of its extant copies come to be destroyed by accident.

MZ:
>>According to Paragraph 8 (V1), any of the subsequent revised versions
>>of the GPL may be selected by the licensee, at his own discretion,
>>instead of the version specified in the program he is using.

BM:
>I only have V2 of the GPL, and it says that this may only be done if the
>program specifies "and any later version" when indicating which version of
>the GPL applies.  If a program indicates only a specific version which
>applies, then you can't do that.

OK, the V2 is more flexible on this point.

>-- 
>Barry Margolin
>System Manager, Thinking Machines Corp.
>
>barmar@think.com          {uunet,harvard}!think!barmar

cordially,
mikhail zeleny@husc.harvard.edu
"Le cul des femmes est monotone comme l'esprit des hommes."