Re: GPL vs non-GPL device drivers

On 2/20/07, Michael K. Edwards <medwards.linux@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
There is no legal meaning to "combining" two works of authorship under
the Berne Convention or any national implementation thereof. If you
"compile" or "collect" them, you're in one area of law, and if you
create a work that "adapts" or "recasts" (or more generally "derives
from") them, you're in another area of law.

As I said, you're having a purely semantic argument.

Regardless of what you *call* it, shoving two works together does not
excuse you from the conditions of the license on one of those works,
*when you make a copy*. And that's the GPL in a nutshell, if you want
to copy the work, you need a license, if you want a license, you must
abide the conditions, and one of the conditions is that you may not
combine it with a work that is under an incompatible license unless it
is mere aggregation.

Of course, now you're going to argue that there's no such thing as an
"incompatible license" or "mere aggregation" and that these are just
words that were made up for the GPL, so they can be ignored.. another
pointless semantic argument because it doesn't change the very simple
fact that you don't have any rights to copy the work unless you have a
license and you don't have a license if you fail to abide the
conditions of the license.

Trent
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/

Relevant Pages

  • [PATCH] change libata license from OSL+GPL to GPL
    ... - changes license of all code from OSL+GPL to plain ole GPL ... indicate your decision by deleting the provisions above and ...
    (Linux-Kernel)
  • Re: Copyleft and embedded Forth
    ... rights of another. ... Developer may do with p.d. ... Use isn't an issue with any free software license. ... You have to choose to use GPL software. ...
    (comp.lang.forth)
  • Re: module license taints kernel.
    ... you can't use a license ... At least this is how the GPL is ... you cannot use a license to turn actions that do not violate ... copyright law, not as defined in the GPL or in the common sense ...
    (comp.os.linux.development.system)
  • Re: GPL compliance
    ... Your main intent seems to be to spread FUD about the GPL and because ... every piece of code that is packaged has a copyright file. ... worrying only about the Canonical license for the whole CD and I was ... what does Red Hat have to do with it? ...
    (Ubuntu)
  • Re: FC4 or FC5
    ... use GPL'd software if you don't want to abide by the license" straw man. ... understands you disagree with that aspect of the GPL. ... of the GPL are quite reasonable compared to the constraints imposed by ...
    (Fedora)