At 05:36 PM 5/15/00 +0200, Wojciech wrote: >I remember, that in the old DOS times, there were drivers (mouse drivers?) >which had to include the "Copyright MICROSOFT" string (or something like this) >to be recognized properly... >Certainly they ware cloned as well. In many countries the reverse >engineering is allowed if it is necessary to assure hardware compatibility. >In this case such "COPYRIGHT" query is just a part of the protocol, inspite >of its meaning in English. >However it is just my opinion, and I'm not a lawyer... Undoubtedly the same in the US. A copyright protects the exact expression filed only. Protocols are subject to patents, not copyrights. So any utterance of a phrase as a necessary part of communication would be the province of patent, not copyright, law. ================================================================ Robert A. LaBudde, PhD, PAS, Dpl. ACAFS e-mail: ral@lcfltd.com Least Cost Formulations, Ltd. URL: http://lcfltd.com/ 824 Timberlake Drive Tel: 757-467-0954 Virginia Beach, VA 23464-3239 Fax: 757-467-2947 "Vere scire est per causas scire" ================================================================