On 6/11/05, Jonathan Fine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I think the FSF may have already asked a lawyer this question. > > In the LGPL we read: > === > When a program is linked with a library, whether statically or using > a shared library, the combination of the two is legally speaking a > combined work, a derivative of the original library. The ordinary > General Public License therefore permits such linking only if the > entire combination fits its criteria of freedom. The Lesser General > Public License permits more lax criteria for linking other code with > the library. > ===
The FSF is not in the business of giving truthful advice about the law. There is no such thing in law as a "combined work", and it is not true that any mechanical operation creates a derivative work. Not compiling, not automated translation, not static linking, not dynamic linking. The only thing that creates a derivative work is a substantial amount of new creative expression. And when that creative expression is in the nature of "selection and arrangement" (as in the case of a distribution CD), it's a collective work, not a derivative work. Compare Woods v. Bourne at http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/2nd/947421.html , in which neither the difference between a composer's "lead sheet" and the published piano-vocal arrangement, nor the changes made to the arrangement for subsequent performances (up to and including a rewrite of the bass line in the piano), rose to the level of originality required to create a "derivative work". > For the benefit of that list, 'latex.fmt' is a dumped execution > state of a program, namely TeX, which can be reloaded at high speed. > > Inputs to the creation of latex.fmt include program files, such > as latex.ltx, font metric files, and hyphenation tables. latex.fmt is, for copyright purposes, the same as the set of works that go into making it; it's just a convenient functional form for those works. And to the extent that several independent works wind up hashed together in latex.fmt, it's still not a new copyrightable work. If there is a creative criterion involved in "selecting and arranging" the inputs (say, you choose a set of font metric files that facilitate harmonious visual puns a la Scott Kim), then the set of inputs might be copyrightable as a collective work, and that collective work would be among the works copied into latex.fmt. Cheers, - Michael (IANAL, TINLA)
