On 3/30/11 19:05, "Borut Razem" <borut.ra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> But anyway, the pic .h and .c files, produced from the their
>XML database wold have the same legal limitations as the current ones,
>generated from MPASM include files: they can be used only for chips,
>produced by Microchip. So no GPL.
So many things going on this paragraph, hard to know where to start.
Copyright is about the end result, not about the process, ie no matter
what you
do or how you do it, if the end result is close enough to the original then
it is a copy.
Another aspect of copyright is originality, which in the context of
copyright law means 'something that required some creativity to produce',
ie not every variation of a something is original art in the meaning of
the act,
thus not every man made thing is copyrighted. The threshold is low, much
lower
than the inventive step requirement in patents for example, but it is
there.
Thirdly copyright protects the non-utilitarian aspects of the
art work, it protects the form not function. There is no copyright
on the shape of a piston or engine block (unless they are exceptionally
artistic!), there maybe patents or that BMW logo might be trademarked,
but copyright, I don't think so.
Now lets look at the existing header files (just had a look at
pic18f2455.h)
in the light of the above.
Take for example this fragment:
extern __sfr __at (0xF62) SPPDATA;
typedef union {
struct {
unsigned DATA : 8;
};
} __SPPDATA_t;
extern volatile __SPPDATA_t __at (0xF62) SPPDATAbits;
The form of this fragment is determined by the C-language standard, so
there is no originality there. The hex addresses are purely functional,
so no copyright there. The names SPPDATA might have some originality
in the choice of the acronym/mnemonic, but since that is really the
only way to refer to that register, its the name of the thing,
you cannot separate the function from the form and thus this is not
copyrighted. I believe no single word or name has ever been considered
copyrighted.
So I see no way the above fragment can be copyrighted.
How about the comments?
Well there might be something in there if the comments would somehow
be original but they seem to be very much like any other similar comment
in hundreds of header files.
No copyright there.
How about copyright as a collection of items that in themselves
are not copyrightable? Or the order of definitions on those files?
I do not think that would pass the originality threshold.
So in my view there is no copyright on those header files and the
question of license is moot.
No copyright => no one can enforce any license.
>
>I think the correct way to produce the GPL .h and .c files is directly
>from the documentation, as Wes suggested.
The process of how you make a 'copy' makes no difference.
>But even for this approach I'm not sure if it is 100% legal.
Again, no matter how you produce a copy of a copyrighted work, distribution
of that copy is the prerogative of the copyright holder and they can
allow it or forbid it. They can allow it for free or under almost any
term they want. The permission can be explicit or implicit, as if
a thing has been in circulation for a long time and they have know about
it and not acted upon the infringement they may loose the copyright.
>Has anybody take a detailed look into the
>documentation if there is a statement which prohibits such actions?
At least on the 2455/2550/4455/4550 datasheet there is no such statement,
it only says "(c)2006 All rights reserved". So it can be argued that
Microchip
has created an implied license to use those names and addresses in anyway
we see fit when they published them, what else purpose there could be
for publishing them. But I do not believe the names and address are
copyrighted
in the first place, so weather they approved or forbid it is moot as they
have no control over it.
br Kusti
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