On Thursday 14 July 2005 11:56 am, Humberto Massa Guimarães wrote: > He affirmed that one has to agree to the GPL to possess a copy of a > GPL'd program.
WHAT?! No, never. Possession is not the issue, the issue is copying. And I am not convinced that making an FTP connection and downloading the material from a licensed distributor does not constitute copying, thus requiring permission. It is an interesting legal argument... could be true, but it could also NOT be true. I'm really not sure. Can you CITE something? Here's the way I'm thinking about it. Apple has a license agreement with Sony to distribute music. Apple can make as many copies as it wants under the agreement and distribute it to whomever and charge whatever it wants (including give it away for free). An Apple technician puts a copy of TMBG's "Man, It's Loud in Here" on a server, but fails to place the appropriate password protection on the server. I come along, discover this song is available for one and all, and download a copy. I agree to nothing in the process. Apple later discovers its mistake, removes the song, and threatens to sue me. What claims can it make? The obvious answer is conversion... but is there a copyright violation here? Strikes me that I have made an unauthorized copy, denied someone their ability to profit from their works. I smell statutory damages. Someone a while back mentioned first sale... which is an interesting place to go. Is the idea that every apt-get I do is actually a series of first sale transactions where the consideration is nothing? That would probably work, other than the fact that it leaves Debian in the unique position to revoke all of the first sale agreements because its not binding without some form of consideration. ---------- But I'd really like to return to the question that got us all started. Is calling the GPL a "License Agreement" a bug? Apparently my "you have to agree to the GPL anyway" theory has gotten people all worked up... so, obviously that's not going to convince anyone on this list. So can someone explain to me why its NOT a license agreement? Do you not in fact have to agree to the GPL if you intend to use the rights under the GPL? -Sean -- Sean Kellogg 3rd Year - University of Washington School of Law Graduate & Professional Student Senate Treasurer UW Service & Activities Committee Interim Chair w: http://probonogeek.blogspot.com So, let go ...Jump in ...Oh well, what you waiting for? ...it's all right ...'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown
