Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S932578AbXBSUut (ORCPT ); Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:50:49 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S932634AbXBSUus (ORCPT ); Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:50:48 -0500 Received: from spirit.analogic.com ([204.178.40.4]:4032 "EHLO spirit.analogic.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S932578AbXBSUur convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:50:47 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.5 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 19 Feb 2007 20:48:48.0775 (UTC) FILETIME=[5AF57970:01C75467] Content-class: urn:content-classes:message Subject: Re: GPL vs non-GPL device drivers Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:48:43 -0500 Message-ID: In-Reply-To: X-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: Thread-Topic: GPL vs non-GPL device drivers Thread-Index: AcdUZ1r/cX0ajRabQcycm3L5wWiJAQ== References: <7b69d1470702171129x36c4352cyc5b3a4b217729bf5@mail.gmail.com> <20070219203149.27c3b696@localhost.localdomain> From: "linux-os \(Dick Johnson\)" To: "Michael K. Edwards" Cc: "Alan" , "Scott Preece" , "Alexandre Oliva" , , "Linux-Kernel@Vger. Kernel. Org" Reply-To: "linux-os \(Dick Johnson\)" Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2980 Lines: 56 On Mon, 19 Feb 2007, Michael K. Edwards wrote: > On 2/19/07, Alan wrote: >>> jurisdiction. Copyright infringement is a statutory tort, and the >>> only limits to contracting away the right to sue for this tort are >>> those provided in the copyright statute itself. A contract not to sue >>> for tort is called a "license".) >> >> I'd insert large quantities of "In the USA" in the above and probably >> some "not what I've heard from a lawyer" cases. > > Name ANY counterexample in the entire history of copyright, anywhere > in the world. I've sifted through the past couple of decades of US > appellate history until I'm blue in the face, and reviewed Canadian > and British and German and French and EU statutes and decisions, and > read Nimmer on Copyright and Corbin on Contracts and historical > analyses of copyright law going back to the Statute of Anne. And yes, > I too have conversed with attorneys and other individuals with legal > educations, in the US and Belgium and Brazil. > > You have been lied to. You have been hoodwinked. You have neglected > to inform yourself about the simplest truths. The GPL is not a > "copyright-based license", anywhere in the developed world. There. > Is. No. Such. Thing. FWIW. A license is NOT a contract in the United States, according to contract law. A primary requirement of a contract is an agreement. A contract cannot, therefore, be forced. Licenses, on the other hand, can be forced upon the user of the licensed material. A license is a document that states the conditions under which an item may be used. A prerequisite of the licensor is that he/she/they have a legal right to control the thing being licensed. When a licensed item has its license modified by a party, not the original licensor, it is quite possible that such attempts to control the item are invalid (moot). Lawyers like this because it gives them work since the final resolution of such a action can old be determined by a court! Cheers, Dick Johnson Penguin : Linux version 2.6.16.24 on an i686 machine (5594.84 BogoMips). New book: http://www.AbominableFirebug.com/ _  **************************************************************** The information transmitted in this message is confidential and may be privileged. Any review, retransmission, dissemination, or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify Analogic Corporation immediately - by replying to this message or by sending an email to DeliveryErrors@analogic.com - and destroy all copies of this information, including any attachments, without reading or disclosing them. Thank you. - 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/