cnodnarb Professional Member
Joined: 11 Sep 2002 Posts: 762 Location: Rockeledge, GA
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 5:00 am Post subject: |
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Well,
Your concern shouldn't be syntax. I've studied this particular issue, since you live in the US the language itself is not protected.
The slippery slope you face (not yet, but if your product becomes refined) is in your actual ownership of your VDS license. You absolutely cannot create a competing product (REGARDLESS OF SYNTAX!) from within the VDS language, I don't think you're anywhere near this. As far as simple macroing and algorithms go, I seriously doubt that your anywhere near encompassing the scope of the product.
In order to compete, you would have to market your product in a similar fashion to VDS and either take away profit from the VDS product in the form of Freeware (potential profits lost) or actual direct profits to yourself.
Now that's not to say you can just run off and make your own VDS in Visual Basic, there are other legal angles that can be taken, but syntax/grammer isn't one of them (in the US). Your main issue is whether or not you would hurt VDS profit margin with a similar product (that's competing) and they can instantly void your license (that's about the extent of ability they reasonably have).
That's why if the Java Interpreted version of VDS still worked in most browsers and became popular it would be practically impossible for CR to do anything, it's not a similar product even though it uses very similar syntax. VDS is marketed as a product that creates compiled client side applications, the Java Interpreted version does not match that description.
Now this discussion hasn't yet spoke to ethics. For small personal products / products with a twist to them (it uses VDS syntax, but all output is to a Notepad document, it uses VDS syntax, but is meant solely for [blank] should be viewed as benign. It is my opinion that such a javascript interpreter as mentioned above is not benign (ON A LARGER SCALE THAN WHAT OCCURRED, it didn't get too far) however I feel CR would be left without legal recourse had it succeeded.
[blank] examples
To extend an existing product with limited scripting built in, such as a popular MMO or a photoshop clone that does not include scripting.
To communicate with a specific piece of medical equipment that needs preprocessed scripted code. etc.
That's enough mental gymnastics for today. I'm gonna watch another episode of MONK. |
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