On 4/8/2010 5:57 PM, RJack wrote:
"BusyBox, v.0.60.3" is the version of BusyBox registered with the
Copyright Office by the plaintiff
According to the complaint
<http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2009/busybox-complaint-2009-12-14.pdf>
this is a version registered by the plaintiff. The complaint does not
say that it is the only version so registered.
and is the only copyrighted work claimed in the lawsuit.
No, that is plainly false, easily seen to be so by reading the
complaint. The copyrighted work which the plaintiffs claim is being
infringed is BusyBox, not nay particular version of it. This is
correct, since the plaintiffs hold copyright to all versions of
BusyBox from the one in which they first made modifications.
The claim-processing requirements of 17 USC sec 411 (no longer
jurisdictional after Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick, Case No.
08-103) require the alleged infringed work be registered with
specificity.
The plaintiffs can register any later version as becomes necessary
and amend the complaint. The defendants might then not be liable for
statutory infringement on that version, but could be enjoined from
copying and distributing it further.
It is the job of the trier of fact to compare the *registered* work
with the alleged infringing copy for "substantial similarity". In
the instant suit, no binary has been *registered* for comparison
with the alleged infringing binary. I'll leave it to you to explain
how a jury would compare a work that you *refuse* to identify with
*specificity* with some *alleged* infringing work.
No, this is false. You really are ignorant in this subject.
<http://ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CopyrightCompendium/chapter_0300.asp>
321.03 Relationship between source code and object code. The
Copyright Office considers source code and object code as two
representations of the same computer program. For registration
purposes, the claim is in the computer program rather than in any
particular representation of the program. Thus separate registrations
are not appropriate for the source code and object code
representations of the same computer program. However, where a work
in source code is registered in unpublished form, and the published
version of the same work is submitted for registration in object code
form, registration will be made.