On Monday 27 November 2006 05:17, Denis Oliver Kropp wrote: > Does anybody know if including these headers is ok, how it > should be declared or which restraints are there?
This is a tricky one, and although I am not a lawyer, here are my thoughts (some which may conflict): 1. Short answer: no. The GPL is strict in that it if the code is included in a proprietary product, you may be violating the GPL. 2. Short answer: yes. The GPL is strict about code, but can definition of values be considered code? If there is nothing unique (i.e. the values can be found elsewhere) then the author of the header created nothing unique - merely affixed a label to the value. 3. Short answer: no. A copyright makes no mention if the values (i.e. content) can be found elsewhere. It regards anything created AS A WORK and as such, that work is copyrighted. Many mistake patents and copyrights. A patent may be null and void if prior work is found. However, with copyrights, if I draw my version of, say Van Gogh's "Sunflowers", then as long as I am not passing it off as an original Van Gogh, it is my work and subject to all the rights and privileges thereof. In other words you can't copy it willy-nilly without my consent. Even though the GPL tries to say it is "copy left" it is founded on the principles of copyright - that unless the author says you can use it any way you want (BSD or public domain), you can't. So my long answer is that including these headers -may- violate the GPL and/or copyright. Cheers, Lloyd _______________________________________________ directfb-users mailing list [email protected] http://mail.directfb.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/directfb-users
