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Subject: Re: Gmini and legal issues
From: Björn Stenberg (bjorn_at_haxx.se)
Date: 2004-01-06

Laurent Giroud wrote:
> However, before publishing something here I wanted to make sure I would not
> be breaching any laws.

As you yourself say, only a lawyer can give you proper legal advice. But I can give you my opinions. :-)

> What is subject to the restrictions IV-1-1/2/3 above is the reproduction of
> the firmware code and its translation (ie desassembly) in order to obtain
> informations permitting its interoperability with rockbox (ie infos on how
> to load it).

I think this is fair. You are not allowed to reproduce (copy) another persons work without permission. Extending this to disassembled and otherwise translated versions of the work is reasonable.

> The main problem is that rockbox could be considered as a program that does
> "something similar" [to the original firmware] which would invalidate not
> the right to disassemble, but the right to design, produce or commercialize
> (no problem with this last one) rockbox for the gmini.

I have doubts about this paragraph. If it really means what you interpret it to mean, then OpenOffice would also be illegal in France, for reverse engineering the Microsoft Office file format and "doing something similar". Interoperability by reverse engineering, and thus much of the competition in todays software market, would be outlawed!

Somehow I doubt that is the purpose of this law. 

-- 
Björn

Page was last modified "Jan 10 2012" The Rockbox Crew
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