full-disclosure - Re: Cisco's stolen code

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From: ericscher at mac.com (Eric Scher)
Subject: Re: Cisco's stolen code

The notion has been put forth that "Fair Use" doesn't cover stolen material.

In fact, it does.

If you steal Cisco's code, you may be found guilty of theft.
If you give it away, you may be found guilty of transferring stolen property.
If you download it from a website, you may be found guilty of receiving stolen property.
If it is found in your possession, you may be found guilty of possessing stolen property.

However, none of this involves a copyright violation.

The final sentence of subparagraph 4, of the US Code (irony unintended) I posted specifically says:

"The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors"

That would cover the unpublished nature of Cisco's stolen code.

However, in order for THEFT of code to become a violation of copyright law, the statute ON copyright law would have to be ammended to make that a crime.

Until such time, a charge of copyright violation for the theft of cisco's code, or it's posession, cannot be sustained under US Copyright law, as currently written. You may go to jail for many years for felony theft of intellectual property, but you wont be guilty of copyright violation.

Eric S.