[Framers] OT: Copyright rules for scripts

[Scott Prentice]

This is a tricky subject. Definitely not clear cut, especially when it 
comes to non-compiled programming languages. Here's a good summary ..

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/06/understanding-copyright-and-licenses/

This still doesn't really answer your question about creating a 
derivative work from this "copyrighted" work. The "best" thing to do is 
to contact the author and ask permission for what you plan to do. But if 
that's not possible (or you just don't want to), you have to ask 
yourself .. at what point do your modifications to this work constitute, 
a new work that's yours?

You certainly can't just re-sell something as-is .. that's clearly 
"wrong." But you *could* rename the variables, move things around a bit 
and by the time you add your new code, it'd look like something 
completely different. Is that wrong? It's hard to say. I think it really 
depends on your intent.

As a developer myself, I generally expect that people will take my 
non-compiled code and do pretty much anything with it, regardless of the 
copyright statements. That's one reason that I prefer to work with 
compiled code for more serious development tasks. I'll use ExtendScript 
for "light" scripting tasks, but would not likely use it for larger 
projects.

If it were me, in this case, I'd contact the author and ask permission 
to use his code intact and complete, and include credit to the original 
author and clearly identify their code and yours.

If they didn't allow this, I'd rewrite that code, making it 
significantly different and better (there's always room for 
improvement). Keep in mind that you really need to make it different .. 
perhaps using similar functions from open source libraries. In coding, 
there's very little that's actually new, it's all just variations on the 
same old theme. You can typically find other sources for code that's not 
sharable, and that's better than blatant plagiarism.

Cheers!
...scott


On 5/23/16 9:53 AM, Klaus Daube wrote:
>     Dear Framers!
>
>     3 years ago I ordered and got an ExtendScript according to my
>     specifications for which I paid quite an amount. The author placed a
>     note in the script:
>
>     // Copyright 2013, Author.Company.Com. All rights reserved.
>
>     May I (as purchaser of a specific work) use this work as a base for own
>     work which I then offer to the public on my website?
>
>     With all this plagiarism discussion in the back of my neck: When using
>     other people's work (which normally does not contain any copyright
>     notice) I have started to include a note such as:
>
>     Based on xxx.jsx (http://...).
>
>     fo example:
>
>     function FindAndReplaceString (activeDoc, findString, replaceString,
>     loopMax)
>
>     // Source: Russ Ward in
>     https://forums.adobe.com/message/3888653#3888653
>
>     I have seen © notices in script souce such as the following - which is
>     clear to allow what I intend to do:
>
>     // © 2010 Matt Di Pasquale
>
>     //
>
>     // Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
>     obtaining a copy
>
>     // of this software and associated documentation files (the
>     "Software"), to deal
>
>     // in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
>     the rights
>
>     // to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or
>     sell
>
>     // copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software
>     is
>
>     // furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
>
>     //
>
>     // The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
>     included in
>
>     // all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
>
>     But such long statements are rare. The script example is 90 lines, of
>     which the complete © notice is 20 lines.
>
>     We all build our work with the help from others - or we need to close
>     all forums. IMHO it is fair use to state the source of the bricks which
>     I use to build a new script. But does this violate the claims of the
>     author mentioned on top?
>
>     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>     ~~
>
>     Docu + Design Daube; Schäracher 11; CH-8053 Zürich
>
>     Technical documentation & consultancy; On-line and paper
>
>     F: +41-44-422 86 25  E: ddd at daube.ch  W: www.daube.ch
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