From: "David Schwartz" <davids@webmaster.com>
To: "Chris Friesen" <cfriesen@nortel.com>
Cc: "David Newall" <davidn@davidnewall.com>, "Greg KH" <greg@kroah.com>,
       "Christer Weinigel" <christer@weinigel.se>,
       "Pekka Enberg" <penberg@cs.helsinki.fi>, <linux-usb@vger.kernel.org>,
       <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: RE: [PATCH] USB: mark USB drivers as being GPL only
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 17:36:30 -0800
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> IANAL, but when looking at the "But when you distribute the same 
> sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the 
> distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License" of the 
> GPLv2 I would still consult a lawyer before e.g. selling a laptop with a 
> closed-source driver loaded through ndiswrapper.

If that were true, you couldn't legally install more than one program on a computer without permission from all the copyright holders without specific license permission.

A "work based on the Program" is the same as a derivative work. A laptop with an assortment of different programs on it is not a work, it is a collection of works.

DS


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