Software maker loses in copyright ruling
Article Abstract:
A federal judge has ruled that Accolade Inc may have violated the copyright of Sega Enterprises Ltd when Accolade used reverse engineering to take apart a Sega console to see how it worked. Accolade may also have violated the Sega copyright when it copied a piece of code. Accolade was designing a video game to be compatible with Sega's Genesis consoles. Sega has won a preliminary injunction against Accolade to stop it from disassembling any more of the Sega consoles. The ruling surprised and upset the software industry, since reverse engineering is a widely popular way to develop compatible products. The judge ruled that Accolade could have used the more expensive and time-consuming procedure called 'peeling a chip', but that copyright law prohibited taking the consoles apart. The judgement is viewed as a further restriction on access to hardware, a trend that alarms most software makers.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1992
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For parents: here's educational software that gets high marks
Article Abstract:
Knowledge Adventure Inc's Interactive books are educational data bases that range in price from $50 to $60. The MS-DOS-based databases allow young readers to select data presented on-screen to move to other areas of interest. Knowledge Adventure is a general informational package, and the series also includes Sports Adventure and Science Adventure. More titles are planned for release. Kid Works 2 is a $35 educational software package from Davidson & Associates Inc that allows children to create and illustrate original stories on Apple Macintosh microcomputers. An MS-DOS version of Kid Works 2 is planned for release. Grandma and Me is an educational database from Broderbund Software Inc. The package is a story that is read in either Spanish or English by the computer using a human voice. Additionally, the illustrations become animated when selected by a mouse.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1992
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Hughes Aircraft gets copyright on program
Article Abstract:
Hughes Aircraft Co, which is a unit of General Motors Corp, obtains a copyright on a program that operates on 'neural networks.' Specifically, Hughes's program recognizes certain sonar images, so that it might be used to distingush one kind of underwater object from another. It could, for example, tell the difference between a submarine and a whale. Hughes's copyright is believed to be one of the first copyrights covering a neural network program.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1990
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