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by oddevan 3427 days ago
Given other comments in this thread, it means (1) viewing the original work (in this case, the source code), (2) making superfluous changes to avoid literal copying (changing variable names, find-replace company name, etc), and (3) passing this off as original.

It sounds like it's not "You made a knockoff, that's 'non-literal copying,'", it's "You made a literal copy, changed a couple of things, and called it yours."
1 comments
bitwize 3427 days ago
No.

Structure, sequence, and organization of a computer program -- not just code -- is subject to copyright per Whelan v. Jaslow. Note that the Whelan standard became relevant again after Oracle v. Google.

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avmich 3427 days ago
I'm certainly not a lawyer, but I would definitely like to know what's the difference between "structure, sequence and organization of a computer program" and the algorithm behind that program? As I understand, algorithm is in the realm of ideas, which are not copyrightable.

It would be sad if courts accepted a technically ambiguous approach effectively deciding arbitrarily which case is what.

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