On 10/23/06, Smylers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Markus Laire writes:
> Does anyone know if programming languages are protected by copyright
> or not?
Code can be copyrighted; ideas can't be.
Yes, but the syntax of the programming language is more than just an idea.
Copyright-article[1] at Wikipedia says that "Copyright is a set of
exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an
idea or information."
So, for example, the idea of look-behind assertions can't be
copyrighted as it's an idea.
But what about a particular form chosen to express that idea (e.g. to
use <before pattern> to denote look-behind)? Can this be copyrighted
as it's more than just an idea?
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
ps. I'm asking this because I'm thinking of creating a (simple)
programming language by myself, but I'm unsure about how much syntax I
could copy from any existing programming languages.
--
Markus Laire
