Re: Does GNUstep infringe on Apple's Intellectual Property?

[John Anderson]

I want to clarify what I am concerned about.

I am sure that GNUstep is an original implementation of the OpenStep / 
Cocoa interface.

My concern is that the interface itself (i.e. the classes, the methods, 
the functions) is directly protected by Apple's copyright, as in "NS" 
names.   More importantly,  Apple's copyright also extends indirectly 
to specific functionality (i.e. just changing all the "NS" names to 
"GS" or whatever would not solve the problem).

For example, let's say I wanted to rip off McDonald's, with a chain of 
fast-food hamburger restaurants called JackDonald's.  McDonald's would 
have me shut down before I served my first "BigJack" (for those 
Europeans who do not know, McDonald's is famous for its' "BigMac").  
However, I am mixing trademark and copyright law here to make this 
easier to understand.

More clearly, GNUstep is exactly (and indeed supposed to be) a copy of 
the OpenStep interface.  Therefore, what are the legal implications?


On Sunday, August 24, 2003, at 10:34 PM, Tima Vaisburd wrote:

> On Sunday 24 August 2003 17:13, John Anderson wrote:
>
> > I mean, it appears clear to me that GNUstep is a derivative work
> > that must violate Apple's copyrights on OpenStep and Cocoa.
>
> I presume that GNUstep is an independent, from-scratch implementation
> of the OpenStep API that has been published as open API, i.e.
> anybody can write it's own implementation.
>
> Thus, GNUstep is not an Apple derivative work at all
> and violates no Apple copyright whatsoever.
>
> Is this correct?
>
> Tima.
>
>
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