:rolleyes:
The irony is neither do you... As an actual University Professor that teaches copyright and patent law allow me to educate you.
In EU we have much less sucky law regarding reverse engineering. See
Council Directive 91/250/EEC of 14 May 1991 on the legal protection of computer programs, specifically article 63. Copyright vs Patent. You have many, many issues here with Kickstart. Let me give you some examples:
Guru Mediation Error: This is a method for displaying a serious error from the OS. The idea behind it could not be patented (showing an error message to the user). However, showing such a message with a black screen, a red flashing box, the error inside said box, and the words labeling the error could be copyrighted by the owner.
I believe a guru mediation as itself doesn't qualify as an artwork, so I don't think it would be a problem. You probably would need to ditch the word "Guru Meditation" though. That could be argued to be unique enough. The rest: black background and red text with a blinking border is way too generic to qualify as an artwork. Then it's just up to writing your own code without breaching the copyright of the original.
Right Mouse Click to Display a Menu: I believe RJ Mical owns the patent for this.
If he did, the patent has expired ages ago.
Using a mouse button to offer options to the user isn't patentable but the Amiga's Right Click Show Hidden Menu certainly is...
What was patented as possibility to toggle multiple options in one menu session. This patent has expired by now (couple of years ago).
I am speaking from an American Legal System. If part of the code is owned outside of the US it would become even more complicated.
I find it highly gratifying not having to abide to US law.
PS. If someone thinks I'm making this all up, I am not. We had to consider these legal issues very carefully when creating MorphOS. A lot of
sabre rattling over MorphOS legality occurred but little (read: nothing) came out of it. I don't believe AROS has anything to fear from the legality stand point either.
