Larry Niven's Altair

[Chuck Guzis]

On 08/20/2015 10:48 AM, Fred Cisin wrote:

> So, the only hope for something published in the last half century to
> be public domain now would be if it were explicitly placed in public
> domain, or were originally published without notice before 1978.

It used to be (and maybe still is) acceptable to submit a representative 
partial specimen of a work to claim copyright.  For example, the solo 
violin part to the film score of "Schindler's List" might well qualify.

But yeah, I'd hate to run up against BillG in a spat over appropriating 
his Altair BASIC.  He could squash me like a bug with his legal 
resources.  I recall that other outfits stealing his code was one of his 
big public gripes back in the pre-PC days.

Better to ask first, no?  I keep playing that old song, but "used with 
perimission" is a small price to pay, isn't it?

--Chuck