Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!polyslo!vlsi3b15!vax1.cc.lehigh.edu!sei.cmu.edu!krvw From: dmg@retina.mitre.org (David Gursky) Newsgroups: comp.virus Subject: Re: Copyrights and shareware... Message-ID: <0005.8909261721.AA06193@ge.sei.cmu.edu> Date: 26 Sep 89 13:20:16 GMT Sender: Virus Discussion ListLines: 38 Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu In Virus-L Digest V2 #203, an anonymous author (IA9600 -- ) writes: this is not so. shareware is for the most part copyrighted and mr. mcafee's software does indeed carry a copyright! as the owner of a work which is copyrighted, j. mcafee caN CALL IT SHAREWARE OR ANY OTHER NAME HE DESIRES, EVEN FREEWARE, AND STILL MAINTAIN THE ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO DETERMINE WHO MAY OR MAY NOT DISTRIBUTE HIS COPYRIGHTED WORK! A copyrighted work is the sole property of the holder of the copyright.like it or not, that is the law of the land. until such time a case comes to court, copyrighted shareware remains the property of the copyright holder, who may decide who has the right to distribute such work. - ----- I do not contest that the author of a computer application (especially a copyrighted application) is entitled to set whatever conditions they want on the use or distribution of their work, and I have stated so before. But this is a different issue than whether such an application qualifies as "Shareware", "Freeware", etc. Shareware has a specific meaning: software (copyrighted or otherwise) that is distributed outside of commercial channels, that is paid for if the user decides to use it. Freeware is a subset of this; the cost of a freeware application is zero. Nowhere in this definition is there a prohibition of the distribution of copyrighted software! Any author is welcome to put whatever restrictions they want on their work, no question about it. When those restrictions go beyond a certain point, they author cannot fairly call their work Shareware, IMO. This is getting/has gotten outside of the scope of Virus-L. If individuals wish to send me e-mail about it, fine. Otherwise I consider the subject closed.