Re: in

Subject: Re: Inprise InterBase(R) 6.0 Now Free and Open Source

Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> writes:

It is not possible to be "tainted" by looking. There are only two kinds
of intellectual property rights (at least in the USA) and neither one
creates that risk:

1. Copyright means you can't take the code verbatim, just like you can't
plagiarize a novel. You can use the same ideas (plot, characters, etc)
but you have to express 'em in your own words. Structure the code
differently, use different names, write your own comments, etc, and
you're clear even if you lifted the algorithm lock stock & barrel.

2. Patent means you can't use the algorithm. However, looking doesn't
create extra risk here, because you can't use a patented algorithm
(without paying) no matter how you learned of it --- not even if you
invented it independently.

You overlooked a third type: trade secret.

It is possible to be "tainted" by being privy to a trade secret. There was
a recent fuss about exactly this with Microsoft's "publication" of their
Samba extensions in the form of a trade-secret document protected by a
click-wrap license.

However this is an extremely rare circumstance these days, now that software
enjoys full copyright protections.

Anything distributed under any open source license is by definition not a
trade secret, and so the Inprise database carries no such limitations.

-Michael Robinson

P.S. Of course, there's also trademark, which is a fourth protected form of
intellectual property, but that's definitely not relevant here.