Re: how much is too much?

[Isaac]

On Wed, 01 Jun 2005 11:03:23 +0200, Alexander Terekhov <terekhov@web.de> wrote:
> 
> Isaac wrote:
> [...]
>> Your not using your imagination.  17 USC 117 allows such copying or
>> adapting as is essential to run the software.  IMO that would allow
>> compiling, installing, and linking to a library presuming that you
>> owned a legal copy of the source code of the library.
> 
> My point is that linking is irrelevant (the copyright law, not GNU
> copyleft silliness, doesn't establish exclusive right to link). As 
> for compiling, installing, and loading/executing, I agree (you 
> don't need any license for that thanks to 17 USC 117). 

In the US at least, linking is not irrelevant because linking may create
RAM copies.  17 USC 117 was created in part because those RAM copies are
otherwise subject to the copyright holder's exclusive rights, and at least
one court had so ruled.

Isaac