Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1422685AbXBOXVK (ORCPT ); Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:21:10 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1422686AbXBOXVK (ORCPT ); Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:21:10 -0500 Received: from ns.firmix.at ([62.141.48.66]:42256 "EHLO ns.firmix.at" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1422685AbXBOXVJ (ORCPT ); Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:21:09 -0500 Subject: Re: GPL vs non-GPL device drivers From: Bernd Petrovitsch To: Jeff Garzik Cc: Nick Piggin , Ben Nizette , v j , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <45D4E17F.10206@garzik.org> References: <9b3a62ab0702142115m4ea7d2c0m6869eb64ef3ee14e@mail.gmail.com> <9b3a62ab0702142116n4069e16cl1bc8f546f41d935@mail.gmail.com> <45D3FC67.3000903@iinet.net.au> <45D40E81.3050506@yahoo.com.au> <1171576397.3473.10.camel@gimli.at.home> <45D4E17F.10206@garzik.org> Content-Type: text/plain Organization: http://www.firmix.at/ Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:20:57 +0100 Message-Id: <1171581657.3473.20.camel@gimli.at.home> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.8.3 (2.8.3-1.fc6) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Firmix-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.56 on ns.firmix.at X-Firmix-Spam-Score: -2.416 () AWL,BAYES_00,FORGED_RCVD_HELO X-Firmix-Spam-Status: No, hits=-2.416 required=5 X-Spam-Score: -2.416 () AWL,BAYES_00,FORGED_RCVD_HELO Content-Disposition: inline Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1554 Lines: 41 On Thu, 2007-02-15 at 17:41 -0500, Jeff Garzik wrote: > Bernd Petrovitsch wrote: > > On Thu, 2007-02-15 at 18:40 +1100, Nick Piggin wrote: > >> Rhetorical question: what stops me from taking somebody's copyrighted > >> work, stripping the copyrights or falsely claiming to have a license > >> to redistribute it, then selling it? > > > > No one. > > Well, that's not quite true, is it? This little microcosm of life has > its checks and balances, and certainly strives for an equilibrium. > > You make a choice, as in Nick's example, to balance the risk of being ACK. > caught, being sued, being shamed, and/or being avoided by customers > against the perceived rewards. ACK, *iff* you get caught. But I cannot stop you if you just do it. Perhaps I can stop you later on if I find it out, can proove it sufficient to go to court (or at least threaten enough) and have the economical power to do it. > Negative incentives are present, is the overall answer, even if they are > not immediately obvious and spelled out in excruciating detail. Of course. And given the cases on gpl-violations.org I fear I'm right. Bernd -- Firmix Software GmbH http://www.firmix.at/ mobil: +43 664 4416156 fax: +43 1 7890849-55 Embedded Linux Development and Services - 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/