Re: GPL vs non-GPL device drivers

[Stephen Clark <Stephen.Clark@seclark.us>]

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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