Michael Poole wrote: > Matt Keenan writes: > > >> Alexandre Oliva wrote: >> >>> Err, no. Software, per legal definitions in Brazil, US and elsewhere, >>> require some physical support. That's the hard disk in the TiVO DVR, >>> in this case. I don't see how this matters, though. >>> >>> >>> >> I'm now intrigued, where are these (Brazilian and US) definitions >> stipulated, and under what authority? >> > > In the US, 17 USC 101 (the "Definitions" section of the title dealing > with Copyright) makes this definition: > > A "computer program" is a set of statements or instructions to be > used directly or indirectly in a computer in order to bring about > a certain result. > > As its purpose is to outline the scope of copyright law, this > definition is made under the authority granted to Congress by Article > I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution. > > But where is the part that says it "requires some physical support"? It says what it is; "a set of statements or instructions", how it should be used; "to be used directly or indirectly in a computer", and what purpose it serves; "in order to bring about a certain result", but it doesn't seem to indicate that it "requires physical support" aka needing some physical representation. I suspect this argument boils down to the philosophical debate of whether ideas (in this case software) can be truely devoid of the physical.
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