>That's like saying I can't copyright an image I made entirely within GIMP because it has no human artist. //
Not if you created an algorithm that uses GIMP and runs independent of you. Copyright protects artistic works by natural persons.
Cope is the creator of the algorithm and has copyright protection of any artistic elements of that algorithm. Copyright does not protect technical effort no matter how skilled.
In the same way my camera's firmware writer, though skilled, has technical input in to all images created with that camera. But as they don't have artistic input in to any specific image they don't share the copyright - they may have made the image vastly superior with their technical ability (white-balance, focus, filters) but it was technical input and not "artistic".
Not if you created an algorithm that uses GIMP and runs independent of you. Copyright protects artistic works by natural persons.
Cope is the creator of the algorithm and has copyright protection of any artistic elements of that algorithm. Copyright does not protect technical effort no matter how skilled.
In the same way my camera's firmware writer, though skilled, has technical input in to all images created with that camera. But as they don't have artistic input in to any specific image they don't share the copyright - they may have made the image vastly superior with their technical ability (white-balance, focus, filters) but it was technical input and not "artistic".
Edit: a reference for the general principle under the USC, http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Compendium_of_US_Copyrigh....