lkml.org 
[lkml]   [2007]   [Feb]   [25]   [last100]   RSS Feed
Views: [wrap][no wrap]   [headers]  [forward] 
 
Messages in this thread
    /
    Date
    From
    SubjectRe: GPL vs non-GPL device drivers
    Pavel Machek wrote:

    >Hi!
    >
    >
    >
    >>Actually, it's quite clear under US law what a derivative work is and
    >>what rights you need to distribute it, and equally clear that
    >>compiling code does not make a "translation" in a copyright sense.
    >>Read Micro Star v. Formgen -- it's good law and it's funny and
    >>readable.
    >>
    >>I've drafted summaries from a couple of different angles since VJ
    >>requested a "translation into English", and I think this is the most
    >>coherent (and least foaming-at-the-mouth) I've crafted yet. It was
    >>written as an answer to a private query to this effect: "I write a
    >>POP server and release it under the GPL. The Evil Linker adds some
    >>hooks to my code, calls those hooks (along some of the existing ones)
    >>from his newly developed program, and only provides recipients of the
    >>binaries with source code for the modified POP server. His code
    >>depends on, and only works with, this modified version of my POP
    >>server. Doesn't he have to GPL his whole product, because he's
    >>combined his work with mine?"
    >>
    >>This is a fundamental misconception. A <<product>> is not a "work
    >>
    >>
    >
    >Ok, but this is not realistic. I agree that if Evil Linker only adds
    >two hooks "void pop_server_starting(), void pop_server_stopping()", he
    >can get away with that.
    >
    >But... how does situation change when Evil Linker does #include
    ><pop3/gpl_header_file_with_some_inline_functions.h> from his
    >binary-only part?
    >
    >I believe situation in this case changes a lot... And that's what
    >embedded people are doing; I do not think they are creating their own
    >headers or their own inline functions where headers contain them.
    > Pavel
    >
    >
    The amount copied has to be significant. A few lines against the
    millions in the kernel would
    not be enough to be copyright infringement.

    --

    "They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary safety,
    deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Ben Franklin)

    "The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty
    decreases." (Thomas Jefferson)



    -
    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/

    \
     
     \ /
      Last update: 2007-02-25 18:59    [W:4.833 / U:0.424 seconds]
    ©2003-2020 Jasper Spaans|hosted at Digital Ocean and TransIP|Read the blog|Advertise on this site