copy protection - was: Re: Is it time for playing games on WINE?

[Alexandre Julliard]

Shachar Shemesh <wine-devel at shemesh.biz> writes:

> I don't get it. As far as I understand, so long as the code in the
> Wine archives does not allow running copied discs, we are not
> violating the DMCA. If someone else takes Wine code and modifies it,
> that's where the DMCA violation happens.

The DMCA does not require copyright violation, what is illegal is
"circumventing" the protection measure, it doesn't really matter if
the replacement code has the same functionality or not. For example
it's illegal to decrypt your own DVDs with DeCSS, but it's legal to do
it with an "approved" player, even though they are of course both
running the exact same algorithm. Yes it's absurd, but that's the way
the law is written.

So the question is whether the code in question is "circumventing" the
protection or not. I think you would have a hard time convincing
someone that a dummy driver that returns magic values is not
circumventing part of the copy protection, even if the resulting
behavior is identical to the original. OTOH you can make a pretty good
case that a generic "Windows driver loader" is not circumventing
anything, it's just doing what any Windows replacement is supposed to
do.

> If this becomes a real issue, I can offer to host the Wine sources in
> a DMCA free country. I'm sure you'll all agree with me that the
> sources are the only prolematic part (if a given binary does not allow
> copied discs to run, it cannot be said to be infringing).

No, a binary is problematic too. The DeCSS exe is just as illegal as
the source.

-- 
Alexandre Julliard
julliard at winehq.com