While I share Alex’s “law [is] boring” view, this also attracted my attention because it’s (slightly) about statistics software. I feel the SAS v WPL case mentioned on his blog deserves a wider airing:
“The basic story is that the Judge in this case is deeply unsure of the boundary of copyright. […] has sent a number of questions to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The questions are hypothetical, but clearly designed to test the waters and figure out where this line falls.”
Now will this re-affirm what I’ve always been told, that copyright’s border is between ideas and expressions, and copyright only covers expressions? Or will it draw a different boundary?
It seems that those most likely to be affected are those who are at the edges of acceptability of licences like LGPL, or trying to provide workalikes of hostile proprietary companies, but please, read it for yourself.