From: Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de>
To: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Subject: Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3
Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:07:05 +0200
User-Agent: KMail/1.9.5
Cc: Alexandre Oliva <aoliva@redhat.com>, Rob Landley <rob@landley.net>,
       Alan Milnes <alan@itfoundation.org.uk>, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
References: <466A3EC6.6030706@netone.net.tr> <orr6oe6luz.fsf@oliva.athome.lsd.ic.unicamp.br> <alpine.LFD.0.98.0706141855480.14121@woody.linux-foundation.org>
In-Reply-To: <alpine.LFD.0.98.0706141855480.14121@woody.linux-foundation.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/signed;
  boundary="nextPart1317823.MrAXn0spfS";
  protocol="application/pgp-signature";
  micalg=pgp-sha1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Message-Id: <200706151007.06885.bernd.paysan@gmx.de>
Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org
Content-Length: 2832
Lines: 72

--nextPart1317823.MrAXn0spfS
Content-Type: text/plain;
  charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Disposition: inline

On Friday 15 June 2007 04:19, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> I will state one more time: I think that what Tivo did was and is:
>
> =A0(a) perfectly legal wrt the GPLv2 (and I have shown multiple times why
> =A0 =A0 =A0your arguments don't hold logical water - if you actually foll=
owed
> =A0 =A0 =A0them yourself, you wouldn't be using a redhat.com email addres=
s!)

Linus, Harald Welte managed to get the keys from Siemens, which sold=20
a "tivoized" Linux router. As typical for German courts, he got the key in=
=20
a settlement, so there's no citable court verdict (totally, he AFAIK got=20
two court verdicts up to now). But the way settlements work in Germany=20
suggests that it's likely that the court would have decided that way*.

So there is no verdict on this question, but a strong hint that you are=20
wrong, at least under German law (which is not the best money can buy ;-).=
=20
And as Tivo doesn't sell their crap into Germany, we can't test it with=20
them.

It's you who think the GPLv2 is tit-for-tat, not the FSF, and it's not in=20
the text of the GPLv2; this is your private misinterpretation. The GPLv2=20
is "transitive", i.e. everybody receives the same rights, nobody is=20
entitled to take rights from others (the only person to choose is the=20
author), and this certainly includes technical means (even if it does not=20
explicitely say so), and the GPLv3 is just the same (it's just more=20
readable). All arguments from your side put up are straw men like "hardware=
=20
vs. software" and such.

BTW: Hardware as it is done today (chips, printed circuit boards, etc.) is=
=20
copyrighted as well, as it is much cheaper to copy hardware than to develop=
=20
it.

*) German judges want to resolve civil cases by settlements. They let the=20
parties pass a few arguments, and indicate which way the judge possibly=20
would decide to help them settle fast. Settlement is way cheaper than a=20
court verdict, so most sane people choose to settle (unfortunately it's=20
often the insane people who go to court ;-).

=2D-=20
Bernd Paysan
"If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself"
http://www.jwdt.com/~paysan/

--nextPart1317823.MrAXn0spfS
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQBGckiqi4ILt2cAfDARAsEaAJ9W5S0uldT/CySNk1SX3FlIfLmhZQCfSvNl
xf/H+hGUWG8H/6KXjM5agJA=
=Fu9i
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--nextPart1317823.MrAXn0spfS--
-
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/