Python style: exceptions vs. sys.exit()

[Grant Edwards]

On 2008-10-03, greg <greg at cosc.canterbury.ac.nz> wrote:
> Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>> In message <00f15d41$0$20617$c3e8da3 at news.astraweb.com>, Steven D'Aprano
>> wrote:
>> 
>> > (2) Even when the source is available, it is sometimes a legal trap to
>> > read it with respect to patents and copyright.
>> 
>> That's not how patents work.
>
> I don't think that's how copyrights work either. As far as
> I know, whether something is deemed a derivative work is
> judged on the basis of how similar it is to another work,
> not whether its author had knowledge of the other work.
> As long as you express an idea in an original way, it
> shouldn't matter where you got the idea from.

IANAL, but IIRC it does matter when it comes to establishing
punative damages.  If you knowingly and intentionally infringe
a patent, I think you're libel for more damages than if you
accidentally re-invent something.  At least that's what I was
told...

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow! Thousands of days of
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