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james kilty wrote: > On Sat, 2007-05-05 at 11:42 +0100, Simon Robert wrote: > > >> Does this mean that e-books can never be property? Does software only >> become property if the code has been printed in a book? >> > > The use of the term property muddles the whole thing up. If we use the > term we sign up to "Intellectual Property" and the muddle some Americans > seem to be forcing on the world for their advantage so they can apply > rules from one sector to another, hypnotising people into agreement when > they haven't examined the assumptions and core concepts in each of the > (3) main zones. > > Books/literature/created works are covered by copyright. If a > book/printed work is stolen then yes it was property stolen and has > value as such. So if someone steals my daughter's Harry Potter books, it > is the value of the printed books I attempt to recover. I never had any > rights, nor does the thief, over the actual work itself. If they absorb > some of it into a supposedly new work, they are guilty of plagiarism. > > james kilty > http://www.kilty.demon.co.uk > > > I've only recently covered this in university. Software is covered under the Supply of Goods and Services Act, not the Sale of Goods Act. Software is not deemed to be a 'good' as it is the result of a service provided, that of writing the code. IP is assigned to the software in one of three ways, Exclusive where IP is retained in entirety by the author, and the purchaser simply pays for a single license to use it, Non-exclusive where the user pays to be able to redistribute it, again under license, or Assignment where the whole IP rights to the software are sold. Obviously the latter is the most expensive. A test case worth looking at is that of St Albans District Council v IBM. In that case the judge on Appeal stated that although the software itself was covered under the SOGSA, the media upon which it was provided was a physical article and thus could be covered by the SOGA. There is a lot more to the subject, but I think those are the relevant points here. Kind regards, Julian -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html