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)
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