Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S266545AbUFQPoe (ORCPT ); Thu, 17 Jun 2004 11:44:34 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S266546AbUFQPod (ORCPT ); Thu, 17 Jun 2004 11:44:33 -0400 Received: from sanosuke.troilus.org ([66.92.173.88]:65167 "EHLO sanosuke.troilus.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S266545AbUFQPoa (ORCPT ); Thu, 17 Jun 2004 11:44:30 -0400 To: "Adam J. Richter" Cc: hch@lst.de, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, greg@kroah.com Subject: Re: more files with licenses that aren't GPL-compatible References: <200406180629.i5I6Ttn04674@freya.yggdrasil.com> From: Michael Poole Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 11:44:29 -0400 In-Reply-To: <200406180629.i5I6Ttn04674@freya.yggdrasil.com> (Adam J. Richter's message of "Thu, 17 Jun 2004 23:29:55 -0700") Message-ID: <87n032xk82.fsf@sanosuke.troilus.org> User-Agent: Gnus/5.1006 (Gnus v5.10.6) XEmacs/21.4 (Security Through Obscurity, linux) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1461 Lines: 31 Adam J. Richter writes: > I believe that distribution of Linux kernel binaries that > compile in this firmware is direct copyright infringment, and > that distribution of Linux kernel modules that compile in > this firmware is contributory copyright infringement (to the direct > infringmenet that occurs when the image is created in RAM, and > there are US court cases that say that copying into RAM is copying > for the purposes of copyright). > > The United States Copyright Office has issued a copyright > registration to Yggdrasil Computing for some software in the Linux > USB serial drivers. Yggdrasil Computing has never given permission > for distribution of GPL-incompatible firmware with that software. The first "official" version of Linux that included USB serial code that mentioned you (Adam Richter and/or Yggdrasil) was 2.4. That same version included the same binary firmware you complained about in 2001, and the changelog in usbserial.c makes it clear that *at least* the WhiteHEAT firmware was already present when you contributed your code. Would you explain why your claim of copyright infringement is not estopped by the pre-existing condition of firmware being present? Michael Poole - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/