[i wasn't criticizing the policy.] I was just clarifying that I wasn't criticizing the idea of copyright... although that particular point is something I have been thinking a lot about because of my interest in old Macs. It's an interesting synthesis of subject matters. And I did enjoy your barb about being a real lawyer. I'm not; I'd be preemptively disqualified from the bar if I said otherwise.
However, you are wrong about fair use of software. There is fair use of software new or old. The Northern District of Illinois case Storm Impact, Inc. v. Software of Month Club (1998) held that just shipping off a bundled shareware package for profit was not fair use because a) they didn't transform the work [not relevant here], and b ) they used it commercially. [i.e. non-commercial fair of use of software is possible... I suspect Apple hasn't sued a lot of churches though so I couldn't find a good case lol. And honestly this isn't my best research...] There's also Sega v. Accolade (1992), a 9th Circuit case, where Sega's use of software for reverse engineering was fair use, despite the commercial aspect, because of the potential public benefit. I don't even want to touch on AMD and Intel's litigation. I forget if fair use came in, because there were a lot of contract issues also. And education (like here) and journalism (not necessarily traditional, which some of the stuff on this forum could qualify as) are privileged in fair use analysis - as is public benefit etc.
**Edit: I also at the DMCA, which includes an exception for reverse engineering software released on obsolete formats. I doubt there's a lot of administrative guidance on the issue or any case law, but that would likely include anything released on tape, SD and DD floppy disks, arguably 2HD floppy disks as well, and maybe increasingly arguably CD-ROM. However, the first three neatly coincide with all of the software released by Apple on its server, with the exception of OS 7.1. If there was an 800k version, it's possible even that meets the exception - where reverse engineering probably encompasses disk imaging an actual disk.
("Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.")
**
I do agree that MacGarden's links are hit or miss, though. Truly annoying.
However, you are wrong about fair use of software. There is fair use of software new or old. The Northern District of Illinois case Storm Impact, Inc. v. Software of Month Club (1998) held that just shipping off a bundled shareware package for profit was not fair use because a) they didn't transform the work [not relevant here], and b ) they used it commercially. [i.e. non-commercial fair of use of software is possible... I suspect Apple hasn't sued a lot of churches though so I couldn't find a good case lol. And honestly this isn't my best research...] There's also Sega v. Accolade (1992), a 9th Circuit case, where Sega's use of software for reverse engineering was fair use, despite the commercial aspect, because of the potential public benefit. I don't even want to touch on AMD and Intel's litigation. I forget if fair use came in, because there were a lot of contract issues also. And education (like here) and journalism (not necessarily traditional, which some of the stuff on this forum could qualify as) are privileged in fair use analysis - as is public benefit etc.
**Edit: I also at the DMCA, which includes an exception for reverse engineering software released on obsolete formats. I doubt there's a lot of administrative guidance on the issue or any case law, but that would likely include anything released on tape, SD and DD floppy disks, arguably 2HD floppy disks as well, and maybe increasingly arguably CD-ROM. However, the first three neatly coincide with all of the software released by Apple on its server, with the exception of OS 7.1. If there was an 800k version, it's possible even that meets the exception - where reverse engineering probably encompasses disk imaging an actual disk.
("Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.")
**
I do agree that MacGarden's links are hit or miss, though. Truly annoying.