[Fsf-friends] Call the bluff

[Ramanraj K]

Mahesh T. Pai wrote:

>(adding RMS and the board to the CC list)
>
>Arun M said on Sat, Apr 17, 2004 at 02:44:52PM +0530,:
>
> > How can FSF India go about fighting this issue legally....
>
>This throws up  a crucial issue about the role FSF  has in India....
>
>We need  to reach out and  down among the masses ...
>
>The  people at  sarovar.org were  not willing  to contest  the dispute
>because Apple  had threatened  to drag in  their ISP, sponsor  and the
>company maintaining the website.
>
>These threats  will apply  also to us  too, if  we decide to  host the
>project.
>
> > -----Forwarded Message-----
>
> > So I request FSF India to take this challenge head on and mirror
> > PlayFair in India, their by taking this case to court on behalf of
> > free software enthusiasts.
>
>So far as the FSF-India  is concerened, being a non-profit company...
>
>My opinion is  based strictly on practical grounds  - FSF India should
>stay clear of this issue.
>
>  
>
FSF India may avoid getting involved in this matter, without prejudice 
to any of its rights, and what follows is only for general information, 
so that members of this list are enlightened about these rights:

Under the relevant portions of Section 52 of the Copyright Act, the 
following acts shall _not_ be infringement of copyright:
(aa) the making or adaptation of a computer programme by the lawful 
possessor of a copy of such computer programme from such copy-
      (i) in order to utilise the computer programme for the purpose for 
which it was supplied; or
      (ii) to make back-up copies purely as a temporary protection 
against loss, destruction or damage in order only to utilise the 
computer programme for the purpose for which it was supplied;
(ab)the doing of any act necessary to obtain information essential for 
operating inter-operability of an independently created computer 
programme with other programmes by a lawful possessor of a computer 
 programme provided that such information is not otherwise readily 
available;
(ac)the observation, study or test of functioning of the computer 
programme in order to determine the ideas and principles which underline 
any elements of the programme while performing such necessary acts 
necessary for the functions for which the computer programme was supplied;
(ad)the making of copies or adaption of the computer programme from a 
personally legally obtained copy for non-commercial personal use;

All these acts are specifically permitted by law.  The program in 
question undoubtedly provided for inter-operabilty with Gnu, Gnu/Linux 
or FreeBSD systems.  The so called copyright infringement is baseless. 
 The law itself has provided the remedy against groundless threats too:

Section 60. Remedy in the case of groundless threat of legal proceedings.-
Where any person claiming to be the owner of copyright in any work, by 
circulars, advertisements or otherwise, threatens any other person with 
any legal proceedings or liability in respect of an alleged infringement 
of the copyright, any person aggrieved thereby may, notwithstanding 
anything contained in section 34 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 (47 of 
1963), institute a declaratory suit that the alleged infringement of any 
legal rights of the person making such threats and may in any such suit-
(a) obtain an injunction against the continuance of such threats; and
(b) recover such damages, if any, as he has sustained by reason of such 
threats.

So please be aware of your rights.  Though it is lawful and rightful to 
write such code, trivial programs are not that inspiring or exciting - 
there are so many other useful things waiting to be done.