Re: [dvd-discuss]Lexmark Decision

[microlenz(at)earthlink.net]

Having gone through some of the findings from the Eastern Kentucky court, the 
case has bizarre features. Lexmark copyrighted  37 and 55 byte programs.  
Lexmark has a copyright on the programs registered with the copyright office. 
SCC copied the program verbatim. The judge went to great pains to point out 
that SCC could have done all sorts of things to replicate the functionality and 
do the authentication sequence but did not. Where I think the judge erred is 
not in his reasoning but his application of the law. The DMCA is not involved 
at all. Given the validity of Lexmarks copyright, then this is merely a case of 
copyright infringement. The authentication is NOT an access control, using the 
judges own reasoning. So the DMCA really isn't involved. Now I have doubts that 
Lexmark's code is truly copyrightable. The judge made comments on how Lexmark 
made created choices regarding algorithms and the like. I don't see that a 
choice of algorithms is copyrightable nor that it is truly possible to be 
creative or original in 37 or 55 bytes.