[CLUE-Talk] Copyright of SCO source code

[Kirk Rafferty]

On Mon, Jul 21, 2003 at 09:12:47PM -0600, Timothy C. Klein wrote:
> But even if they did, it would be the binary that is copyrighted, and
> the source code would simpy be kept as a trade secret.  Either way, SCO
> will not have given a copy of their code to the US Gov.

I don't know about binaries, but I'm pretty sure it's the source that needs
to be copyrighted.  If the source was only a trade secret, it would not be
legally protected if leaked.

I seem to remember something about only the first N lines needing to be
submitted to the copyright office.  N being like the first 50 or so.  Since
those are most likely comment lines that tell us this is all copyrighted
code (ooh, self-referencing!), it's doubtful that it would be of any use.

Dang it, now I'm going to have to Google this.

(oh, and IANAL...)

-k