June 2010 Edition
Computer Science Department, University of Cape Town
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Most arguments seem to evolve around the fact that a piece of software’s behaviour in itself is useful, even without the presence of a user. This is not true with literary work.
Another issue is that copyright does not give a monopoly of control of a literary work – someone else, independently can do the same thing. As long as the work was created independently and is literally different there is no copyright infringement. In computing, however, striking resemblance is enough for a court to declare a copyright infringement. Here are some infringement cases:
Franklin versus Apple (1984): Franklin copied Apple’s operating system, in many cases this was done line by line. He was found guilty of copyright infringement.
Whelan versus Jaslow (1987): Whelan developed a program for Jaslow in Fortran, but both agreed that Whelan would Own it. Jaslow then redid the program line by line in Pascal. Whelan sued and even though Jaslow’s program is literally different and arguably a different expression of the same idea, the court found in favour of Whelan (Comprehensive non-literal similarity).
Freeware are software which anyone can used without paying the author. People do produce this type of software for fun or just because they want the software themselves. Shareware are software that is provided for use or a trial basis. After the trial period is over, users may pay a small amount to carry on using it and/or for support. They must remove the software from their system if they do not intend to pay.