4 ms·
Under some jurisdictions (eg Germany), I'm not sure whether the output of a program is copyrightable at all. Your software, yes, but probably not the output.
by mkesper 12y ago
Under some jurisdictions (eg Germany), I'm not sure whether the output of a program is copyrightable at all.
Your software, yes, but probably not the output.
- adolph 12y agoWait, the information you type into a text editor or draw in Illustrator is not copywritable in Germany?
- Piskvorrr 12y agoThat depends on the complexity of possible inputs and the complexity of possible outputs - if your text editor would only allow for single-character documents, I imagine its output might not be copyrightable ;)
- dbaupp 12y agoWhat about if the program takes a variety of inputs which influence the output? (At some point there has to be a transition, since e.g. books are "just" the output of some program.)
- kd0amg 12y agoFor any book, there exists some program which generates it, but most books are not created that way (so we consider those books to be products of human creativity).
- dbaupp 12y agoI was talking about the word processor/text editor, since the things created by them are still just the output of some program (with heavy human influence along the way).
- runholm 12y agoThat can't possibly be that simple. Allmost all movies, songs, images and programs made today are outputs from programs.
- wlievens 12y agoI guess he means the output of a program that has no creative input (other than writing the program itself). I'd argue that if I wrote a program to generate a novel, that novel should be copyrightable.
- mkesper 12y agoFirst result I found discussing the issue: http://the-digital-reader.com/2013/09/13/friday-fun-autonomously-generated-content-copyright/ http://the-digital-reader.com/2013/09/13/friday-fun-autonomo... US doesn't seem as clear as you thought, maybe!
- gegenschall 12y agoThat's just too easy and doesn't make sense. OTOH one could argue that the maze itself does not fall under the scope of the Urheberrechtsgesetz because its threshold of originality is too low (no offense, it is after all auto-generated). But I'm no lawyer and this is just a spooky idea.
- mcguire 12y agoI assume it would also depend on whether there were other steps in the process, such as if he selects the mazes for his books, etc., from a larger number of randomly-generated mazes based on aesthetic appeal, difficulty, or other criteria.
- ominous 12y ago"What is a quine?"