Message-Id: <9311091619.AA11233@sc.ZIB-Berlin.DE>
Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <LATEX-L@vm.urz.Uni-Heidelberg.de>
In-Reply-To:  (Your message of Tue,
              09 Nov 93 15:40:26 GMT.)
              <9311091545.AA19918@gauss.math.uni-frankfurt.de>
Date:         Tue, 9 Nov 93 17:22:57 +0100
From: Anselm Lingnau <lingnau@MATH.UNI-FRANKFURT.DE>
Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <LATEX-L@vm.urz.Uni-Heidelberg.de>
To: Multiple Recipients of <LATEX-L@vm.urz.Uni-Heidelberg.de>
Subject:      Re: NF prefix, LaTeX/NFSS compatibility, etc
Status: R


Sebastian Rahtz writes:

> are you saying that if you purchase ATM, you may only use the fonts
> with that software? all ps2pk does is replace the rendering engine in
> ATM, and the fonts are used in the same way for printer or screen. I
> dont see the legal argument at all. your copy of Times was supplied to
> use on screen and on paper

Copyright issues like these are debatable and likely to stay that way until
they have been resolved in court (and even that is no guarantee...)

In Germany, there was essentially no copyright on most kinds of software until
the beginning of this year. Now, with the (IMHO strange and quite
unprecedented) legislature on software copyright that was introduced courtesy
of the EEC, software, at least in theory, is protected to the extent that even
loading a program into RAM from disk to run it can be construed as an
infringement, let alone making backup copies or (choke) disassembling the
program just to see what it does. On the other hand, it is perfectly legal to
disassemble bits of a program if this is necessary to make it work with
another program (`interoperability').

It is unclear how (if at all) this applies to computer-generated glyphs which
a presumably copyrighted rendering engine produces from presumably copyrighted
font descriptions. The legal trades will be able to live comfortably off such
cases for a while yet.

We may even see LaTeX3 released before we know whether re-rendering
computerized font descriptions you legally own is allowed :^) So let's discuss
other important things that really have to do with LaTeX3 instead of playing
amateur lawyers.

Anselm
---
Anselm Lingnau .................................. lingnau@math.uni-frankfurt.de
The way things are now (in the entire software industry), it's like having a
racing bicycle with built-in training wheels that can't be removed.
							  --- William R. Somsky