On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 7:24 AM, Ted Harding <ted.hard...@manchester.ac.uk> wrote: > On 24-Apr-09 16:53:04, Stavros Macrakis wrote: >> On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 8:54 PM, Ted Harding >> <ted.hard...@manchester.ac.uk> wrote: >> [...] >>> ...inspires someone to incorporate the same language extension >>> into a GPL'd FORTRAN interpreter/compiler. I think I could then >>> be vulnerable, or they could, on the grounds that I/they had pinched >>> the idea from the commercial product. >> >> Unless you have a confidentiality agreement of some kind, or the idea >> is covered by a patent, you can pinch any ideas you like from other >> products. Copyright law does not cover ideas. > > Well, I'm not so sure about that ... back in 2002/2003, National > Instrument sued the MathWorks (MatLab proprietors) on the grounds > that the MathWorks Simulink graphical development tool infringed > on National Instruments' patented rights in such an idea....
That was a patent case. We were discussing copyright licenses. Please read up on the difference before speculating. -s ______________________________________________ R-devel@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel