Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Accolade, Inc. was a decision in 1992 by the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that applied
American intellectual property law to the reverse engineering of
computer software. Issues in the case included the scope of copyright,
permissible uses for trademarks, and the scope of the fair use doctrine
for computer code. It arose after video game publisher Accolade
published several games for the Sega Genesis (pictured), disassembling
it to publish games without being licensed by Sega. The U.S. District
Court for the Northern District of California ruled in favor of Sega,
preventing Accolade from publishing any more games for the Genesis and
requiring them to recall all of their Genesis games on sale. Accolade
appealed on the grounds that their reverse engineering of the Genesis
was protected under fair use. The Ninth Circuit reversed the district
court's order and ruled that Accolade's use of reverse engineering to
publish Genesis titles was protected under fair use, and that its
alleged violation of Sega trademarks was the fault of Sega. The case is
frequently cited in matters involving reverse engineering and fair use
under copyright law.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_v._Accolade>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1572:
Eighty Years' War: Soldiers of the Spanish Tercios waded across
the river Scheldt at its mouth, walking overnight in water to chest
height, to relieve the siege of Goes in the Spanish Netherlands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relief_of_Goes>
1740:
Per the terms of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, Maria Theresa
assumed the throne of the Habsburg Monarchy in Austria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa>
1941:
World War II: German soldiers began a massacre of thousands of
civilians in Kragujevac in Nazi-occupied Serbia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kragujevac_massacre>
1973:
Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, formally
opened the Sydney Opera House on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House>
1982:
During a UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC
Haarlem, a large number of attendees tried to leave the Grand Sports
Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium at the same time, resulting in a
stampede that caused 66 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luzhniki_disaster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
unciform:
Of the shape of a hook; hook-shaped.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unciform>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A society which is mobile, which is full of channels for the
distribution of a change occurring anywhere, must see to it that its
members are educated to personal initiative and adaptability. Otherwise,
they will be overwhelmed by the changes in which they are caught and
whose significance or connections they do not perceive.
--John Dewey
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Dewey>