"mdj"  wrote:

>Actually I believe Bill is referring to one of the many Fair Use clauses 
>that are in the Copyright law of pretty much every western country.

This is the specific act Matt.

http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/showdoc/cs/C-42/bo-ga:l_III-gb:s_29/en

As I said in the beginning, I have the Right to the Fair Dealing exception 
for reasearch and private study.

The Copyright holder may challenge this right and my rights will be balanced 
against the Copyright holder's rights.

The Copyright holder may lose. I may lose.

If there is no commercial market, and if no damages have been done, and if 
my right to study does not circumvent the moral rights of the Copyright 
holder and especially if no competition occurs I may not lose.

The thing about rights is that they must be exercised. If I exercise what I 
believe to be my right and the other party doesn't do so for a number of 
years then decides to suddenly go after me for apparently no reasonable 
reason their rights may not weigh-in effectively.

The thing about law is that lawyers and lawsuits cost money. But in Canada 
we have a less cavalier and more conservative civil law system than some 
other countries. Damages are generally confined to real amounts for loss.

It is quite unlikely that criminal prosecution would occur except in a most 
blatant infraction which I truly doubt would be in consideration of a 
Software product that has not been supported for a number of years and has 
no real commercial value.

I pay for my Software Licences anyway and even for some Abandonware. Other 
stuff that I study I don't much worry about since I believe that I have the 
right.

I also have the right to an extradition hearing and not to be found guilty 
in-absentia in a foreign jurisdiction. And didn't Obama just close 
Guatanemo? And I think I passed my last internal audit which was done by 
Microsoft.

Oh well...

Bill
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