From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1030287AbWA0IJ4 (ORCPT ); Fri, 27 Jan 2006 03:09:56 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1030282AbWA0IJ4 (ORCPT ); Fri, 27 Jan 2006 03:09:56 -0500 Received: from h80ad2572.async.vt.edu ([128.173.37.114]:38846 "EHLO h80ad2572.async.vt.edu") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1030287AbWA0IJz (ORCPT ); Fri, 27 Jan 2006 03:09:55 -0500 Message-Id: <200601270809.k0R89ngQ026608@turing-police.cc.vt.edu> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.7.2 01/07/2005 with nmh-1.1-RC3 To: davids@webmaster.com Cc: "Jeff V. Merkey" , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: GPL V3 and Linux - Dead Copyright Holders In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 26 Jan 2006 18:15:54 PST." From: Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary="==_Exmh_1138349389_2915P"; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 03:09:49 -0500 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org --==_Exmh_1138349389_2915P Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 18:15:54 PST, David Schwartz said: > Linus can't put additional restrictions on code he didn't write. If the > authors licensed it under the GPL version 2 and "any later version", Linus > can't re-release it under a more restrictive license One thing to remember is that as a *practical* matter, there are *two* sets of copyrights attached to the code (at least under US law). Each contributor has their rights to their code - Alan Cox has vast tracts of code, I have a few dozen lines of bugfixes, and so on. But equally important is the copyright that Linus has on the kernel as a whole as a a compilation (see 17 USC 103). As a practical matter, if you don't like Linus's license for the compilation, you're stuck with small sections under the fair use rules. Similarly, Linus can't include anything under his compilation unless the licenses are compatible... Also, it means that even if you did manage to get all the copyright holders for the code to agree to "GPL v2 or v3", Linus still holds the trump card on the compilation..... --==_Exmh_1138349389_2915P Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Exmh version 2.5 07/13/2001 iD8DBQFD2dVNcC3lWbTT17ARAtcpAJ9Qj4c5OEksF7C9Uso9B44EOV5dAQCghW2N 2450OAdoPDaFd1Mvi2YxfJE= =xeby -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --==_Exmh_1138349389_2915P--