Xref:	news2.mv.net comp.os.msdos.djgpp:2831
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
From:	tgl AT netcom DOT com (Tom Lane)
Subject:	Re: No more DJGPP on SimTel ???
Message-ID:	<TGL.96Apr15223341@netcom12.netcom.com>
Sender:	tgl AT netcom12 DOT netcom DOT com
Organization:	Netcom Online Communications Services
References:	<199604141215 DOT IAA09662 AT delorie DOT com> <TGL DOT 96Apr14193719 AT netcom15 DOT netcom DOT com>
	<WILLIAMS DOT 96Apr15093036 AT utkux4 DOT utk DOT edu>
Date:	Tue, 16 Apr 1996 05:33:41 GMT
Lines:	27
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

williams AT utkux4 DOT utk DOT edu (Myles Williams) writes:
> tgl AT netcom DOT com (Tom Lane) writes:
>    Keith is unwilling to say much about what happened, but it appears
>    that he had a falling-out with his recent employers at Coast to Coast,
>    and is now working for Walnut Creek.  CTC seems to be trying to keep up

> Has he said whether this "falling out" had anything to do with CTC's
> copyright policy (in which they forbid distribution of public domain
> software packaged on their CDs)?

AFAIK, the *only* thing he's said about the cause of the breakup is that
CTC has threatened to sue him if he says anything about it.

> See ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/README.COPYRIGHT for details.

I looked at this, and offhand I don't see any problem with it, aside from
the obviously unenforceable claim that they own redistribution rights to
individual items of PD software obtained from their archives.  (How would
they prove you got it from them and not some other source?  Lawyers run
amuck again.)  But their archive indexes and organization represent
value-added, and certainly they have a right to restrict makers of CDs or
other collections from using that work for free.  I believe Walnut Creek
and nearly every other big archive collection put similar restrictions on
their archiving work.  Collection copyrights are a well-established legal
principle; but they apply to *collections*, not individual items.

			regards, tom lane

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