[TowerTalk] Wanted: AO software

[Jim Lux]

At 11:41 AM 12/9/2005, Al Williams wrote:

>I wonder what the copyright laws have to say about this type of situation;
>when the copyright holder will not sell it to customers or a select group of
>customers?

That's why it's called copy*RIGHT*...  you hold copyright, you get to 
decide what happens to it, and that includes not letting anyone have a 
copy, no matter how deserving.

Under the doctrine of "first sale", you CAN sell/give/transfer a 
copyrighted book to someone else (without keeping a copy for 
yourself).  Most software, however, is not sold, it is licensed, and it is 
perfectly reasonable, (and exceedingly common) to license it subject to a 
restriction that it may not be sold, transfered, etc. to anyone else. 
There's, shall we say, a bit of controversy about this sort of thing, but 
that's basically where it sits.

In any case, you can't force someone to let you copy something (except for 
a recorded musical work, where there is a thing called a compulsory 
mechanical license).

Nor can you force someone to sell/license/give you something. Unless you 
can show it's somehow in the public interest, in which case there's this 
process called "eminent domain".  Somehow, I don't think AO fits in that 
category.




>k7puc
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "SJ W3TX" <superberthaguy at adelphia.net>
>To: <TowerTalk at contesting.com>
>Sent: Friday, December 09, 2005 10:51 AM
>Subject: [TowerTalk] Wanted: AO software
>
>
> >I am looking for access to AO software for some personal antenna modeling.
> >
> > I contacted the author and he says the software is not retired, but that
> > he
> > will not supply it to hams any longer.
> >
> > 73, Scott W3TX
> >