[Coco] Copyright???

[Kenneth Schunk]

No, what it actually says is that it isn't against the DMCA to try to 
reverse engineer storage formats or protections that prevent you from 
running a program that requires access to the original media (or some 
hardware dongle thing). It doesn't even remove the copyright protection 
- it just gives permission to bypass protection schemes on obsolete 
software and hardware. Here's an example:

The original CoCo Max required the HiRes pack that came with it to be 
plugged in for the software to run. Without it the program would just 
hang at the opening screen. In the old days you could reverse engineer 
the software to write a patch for the program to allow it to run 
without the pack being there. That in itself was perfectly legal to do 
then, but isn't under the DMCA. If I write a program that needs the 
original CD in the drive or a dongle plugged into the USB or parallel 
or whatever port you are not allowed to reverse engineer it to remove 
the copy protection. The exemption states that if the hardware that 
works with the dongle (or disk format) isn't available anymore you can 
work around it without breaking the DMCA.

It's really targeted at things like DVD copy protection and the like.

Ken
On Jan 22, 2004, at 7:55 PM, clifford redding wrote:

> The following is just a little excerpt from the following link.
> Seems the DMCA not only screws consumers, it screws everyone!
>  
> Correct me if I'm reading this wrong, but it seems that the CoCo no 
> longer has
> a copyright. Nor the programs that were written for it.
>  
> /excerpt
> Source http://www.copyright.gov/1201/
> On October 28, 2003, the Librarian of Congress, on the recommendation 
> of the
> Register of Copyrights, announced the classes of works subject to the
> exemption from the prohibition against circumvention of technological
> measures that control access to copyrighted works. The four classes of 
> works
> exempted are:
> 3. Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have 
> become
> obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a 
> condition of
> access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system
> necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no 
> longer
> manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial
> marketplace
> These exemptions will remain in effect through October 27, 2006.
>
>  
>
> /endecerpt
>
>  
>
> Clifford
>
>  
>
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