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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!newshost.dca.gov.au!news.mel.aone.net.au!inferno.mpx.com.au!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.mel.connect.com.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!zombie.ncsc.mil!news.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!newsxfer2.itd.umich.edu!agate!news.Stanford.EDU!usenet From: vladimir@Burner.dsg.stanford.edu (Vladimir Vukicevic) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Why to not buy Matrox Millennium Date: 25 Mar 1996 02:58:48 GMT Organization: DSG, Stanford University Lines: 15 Message-ID: <VLADIMIR.96Mar24185848@Burner.dsg.stanford.edu> References: <4j21ph$crr@slappy.cs.utexas.edu> <4j36ev$prl@news.Informatik.Uni-Oldenburg.DE> <4j3dl9$1jv@solaris.cc.vt.edu> <lVfVxIiCZXEF083yn@cpcug.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: burner.dsg.stanford.edu In-reply-to: zetan@cpcug.org's message of 24 Mar 1996 20:45:57 -0500 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.apps:13797 comp.os.linux.development.system:20222 comp.os.linux.x:27903 comp.os.linux.hardware:34693 comp.os.linux.setup:47783 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:343 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:2841 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:2622 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:16211 In article <lVfVxIiCZXEF083yn@cpcug.org> zetan@cpcug.org (David Lerner) writes: > I am not a lawyer, but I do try to keep up to date on this issue. I have > seen conflicting legal rulings about disassembly. One ruling is that it > involved copying in violation of copyright, and the other that congress, > in not allowing protection of the underlying algorithm, did not intend > to prevent the only available means of inspecting the published algorithm. However, I don't think people are suggesting disassembly of the drivers -- but instead allowing the driver to execute, and monitoring registers and accesses to the card. Would this be illegal? -- Vladimir -- vladimir@intrepid.com