[asterisk-dev] Asterisk Appliance?

[Steve Underwood]

Robin Getz wrote:

> http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=1999-06-22-005-05-NW-LF
>
> While I don't agree with Richard on a philosophical level - just 
> because something is hard, does not mean it is "not vitally important" 
> - that doesn't change the fact that the US government believes that 
> schematics (an illustration of an idea) are non-copyrightable works.
>
> http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wnp
> http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html#idea
>
> If you can't copyright something, you can not release it under a 
> copyright licence - which is what the GPL is. (at least in the US - 
> your jurisdiction may be different).

I think the schematic itself has copyright, like any other document. Its 
the circuit which the schematic describes which has no copyright 
protection. This is like not being able to xerox a page from an atlas, 
but sketching the map it contains is OK. For practical purposes, this 
means much the same thing as there being no copyright on the schematic. 
However, I think its important to get these details right, or they seem 
confusing. Why would this document itself not be protected, while all 
others are?

Steve