[Info-vax] vax vms licenses

[chris]

On 04/19/22 16:53, Don Baccus wrote:
> On Monday, April 18, 2022 at 10:28:29 PM UTC-7, Dave Froble wrote:
>> On 4/18/2022 6:43 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>>> Chris Townley<ne... at cct-net.co.uk>  wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Looks like murky waters, probably even for I.P. Lawyers and courts.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> But are HP even interested?
>>>
>>> No, that's the basic problem.
>>> HP are not interested enough to go after people illegally using the software
>>> but they ALSO are not interested enough to release the software openly either.
>>> --scott
>>>
>> So then, just what is the problem?
>>
>> As we used to say in the pickup basketball games, "no blood, no foul".
>> --
>> David Froble Tel: 724-529-0450
>> Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc. E-Mail: da... at tsoft-inc.com
>> DFE Ultralights, Inc.
>> 170 Grimplin Road
>> Vanderbilt, PA 15486
> "Legal department may have a policy of pursuing all copyright
> infringements for the signal value."
>
> In the US, at least, you can only recover actual damages in a copyright infringement suit (enhanced with punitive damages based on those if you have registered a copyright).  There's also the notion of "fair use" and the fact that there are some court rulings in the US that support the notion that using software that is only protected by copyright for personal use is "fair use".
>
> Copyright law is unlike trademark law where you need to pursue infringement or risk losing trademark protection.  This is one of the factors that leads to companies forcing small, insignificant, local businesses to stop using look-alike logos or similar names to their trademark protected logos, names, etc.  Many people don't understand that legally, once they become aware of the use, they must try to stop it.
>
> This whole thing is complicated, though, by the fact that it is licensed software and that you have to use a fake key not issued by HP to use it.  One of the reasons software licensing became commonplace is exactly because copyright protection is so weak.  So HP is in a much stronger position due to stop people than they would be if they were merely depending on copyright.  And it is hard to argue innocence if you go to the trouble of generating a key and install VAX/VMS.

Not familiar with later versions, but at least with 5.4 vax, it's
possible to install vms and have indefinate access with the root
account (sorry, was it operator ?) with no licence input at all.
Istr, it nags you, but doesn't stop anything happening.

I was given a VSII/GPX by a company I worked for, 1990, and never got
round to transferring the licence, though it was only powered
up from time to time and never used for anything serious, just
out of interest.

Even Oracle have quite generous licensing terms, where any of
the software downloaded from their website is free to use
for non commercial purposes. Very wide range as well. Don't
understand why vms should still use the archaic lmf style
licensing, but I guess they think there is a good reason...

Chris