The Dink Network

They once paid me to code for a living. But I'd rather 'dink around' all day.

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@ Beuc:
That is an excellent point (about massive copyright violations)!

Also, once an "illegal" dmod ends up on a "pay to play" site, the law would certainly not find that use of other's copyrighted material would be "fair use".

(the following is from Copyright and Fair Use from the Office of the General Counsel in Harvard University)

Fair Use of Copyrighted Material
What is "fair use"?

Fair use is the right to use a copyrighted work under certain conditions without permission of the copyright owner. The doctrine helps prevent a rigid application of copyright law that would stifle the very creativity the law is designed to foster. It allows one to use and build upon prior works in a manner that does not unfairly deprive prior copyright owners of the right to control and benefit from their works. Together with other features of copyright law like the idea/expression dichotomy discussed above, fair use reconciles the copyright statute with the First Amendment.

What is the test for fair use?

The fair use defense is now codified in Section 107 of the Copyright Act. The statutory formulation is intended to carry forward the fair use doctrine long recognized by the courts. The statute provides that fair use of a work “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use, scholarship, or research)” is not an infringement of copyright. To determine whether a given use is fair use, the statute directs, one must consider the following four factors:

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.