Legal/Permission Question

[Dan]

Frits van Bommel Wrote:

> Dan wrote:
> > http://dsource.org/projects/browse/branches/1.9/source/
> 
> That should probably be 
> http://dsource.org/projects/walnut/browser/branches/1.9/source

Not wanting to offend, but hold on a second here.  In accordance with the resource specified for Software Copyright Law on the Wikipedia website,
http://www.rosenlaw.com/lj19.htm

Simple Case:
"If you take the copyrighted source code of any program and physically modify it – actually revise the program or translate it into another computer language – you have created a derivative work"

First Edge Case:
"Here’s how I would decide in the edge cases that I described above:

·         The primary indication of whether a new program is a derivative work is whether the source code of the original program was used, modified, translated or otherwise changed in any way to create the new program.  If not, then I would argue that there is not a derivative work."

So in the case of Walnut 2.x, as I did not take someone elses code and modify it, but rather wrote a new program from scratch while analyzing the shortcomings of similar programs; it does not constitute a derivative work.

Iff we can all agree that it is a version 2.x, and not a 1.x (continuation and modification of the original work) and nothing is copied forward.

For the existing code-base, *I* believe it is most definitely a case of rewriting in light of.  If I were to adopt Walter's methods for Walnut 2.x, it would most probably be crossing or standing on that line.

Given that, and by your (Walter's) examination of the code in this light, is Walnut 1.9-2.x a derivative work as it stands?

If Walnut 2.x is not as-of-yet a derivative work, then by discontinuing the examination of Walter's code while writing the methods (a part that would typically be very similar between implementations of ECMAScript regardless) I would be continuing to perform a new work in conformance with ECMA-262.

If we disagree on whether Walnut 2.x is derivative, then I will remove it from the website and cease development.

Thanks, Dan.