At 08:12 1998-05-29 -0400, you wrote:
>----------
>> From: Eric Smith <eric@BROUHAHA.COM>
>> I can buy one copy, modify that copy, and sell it to another party.
>> I am left with zero copies.  I haven't created any new copies,
>> except possible a transient copy that was necessary to the process of
>> modification.
>
>The process you describe will violate its copyright in most countries.  In
>the US the 1% rule in liability gives the copyright holder a vested
>financial
>interest in this kind of activity.

?! Strange. Why? The original manufacturer get their earned money when they
sell the original product. Why should they earn on the next mans work?  The
fence manufacturer do not get paid anything when a craftsman improves the
fence in some way...

>Reverse engineering for commercial gain lowers the amount of risk that a
>company will take in the development of new technology. This in turn will
>slow the discovery of new technology and techniques.

Or speed them up.
The one who adds the new functions maybe add just that new top technology,
but could not himself develop the whole product.

/Morgan

>Walter Banks
>
>
/  Morgan Olsson, MORGANS REGLERTEKNIK, SE-277 35 KIVIK, Sweden \
\  mrt@iname.com, ph: +46 (0)414 70741; fax +46 (0)414 70331    /