[cad-linux] reverse engineering

i thought some of you might find this interesting.
there was alot more detail to the article.  
i can forward it to anyone that is interested.

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------


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             u p F r o n t . e Z i n e
                 Talking About CAD

  Issue #311  |  October 1, 2002  |  English Edition
      "On your desktop every Tuesday morning."
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            http://www.upfrontezine.com
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Reverse Engineering Halted by Shrinkwrap License
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A recent appeals court decision decided that shrinkwrap licenses trump
 copyright law in the United States. The court found that Baystate Technology
 (now CADKEY) had violated the terms of a shrinkwrap license from HLB
 Technology. American copyright law allows limited amounts of copying; a
 shrinkwrap license, however, can eliminate that right. (A "shrinkwrap
 license" forces you into an agreement with the vendor-dictated software
 license by your act of opening the software package: literally removing the
 shrinkwrap, or opening the sealed envelope containing the CDs.) In the CAD
 world, it is common for competitors to leapfrog each other in the features
 race. They check out the competitors' features, and then decide to implement
 some of them. Examples include referenced drawings, feature trees, and
 paperspace. The effect of this ruling means that competitors can no longer
 copy each other's unprotectable features, if the shrinkwrap license forbids
 it. The only other case I am familiar with is when Ashlar sued another CAD
 vendor over its patented Drafting Assistant technology. Companies now pay
 Ashlar a fee to implement similar technology, such as AutoSnap in AutoCAD,
 rather than face a possible law suit.

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phrostie
Oh I have slipped the surly bonds of DOS
and danced the skies on Linux silvered wings.
http://pfrostie.freeservers.com/cad-tastrafy/
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/cad-linux

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