On Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:37:37 +0530 Anupam Jain <[email protected]> wrote: [...] > An example of accidental access would be when some employee > donates a computer to a third party but forgets to erase the HDD.
Even in this case the finder does not automatically get the rights that the owner had. > You cannot directly compare acquiring a TV with acquiring a copy > of some software. There is nothing lost when people share bits > and it's the fundamental reason why free software exists. [...] You are preaching to the already converted here. While I have some sympathy with your arguments, we are not talking philosophy here, but law. In the eyes of the law in most places in the world, theft of software is identical to the theft of a TV. And, by your argument that illegal acquisition still somehow means that one retains rights over the product, it is perfectly legal for a proprietary company to steal GPL software. > What if the company makes all its employees sign NDAs that forbid > them from disclosing and/or distributing any > "technology"/algorithms revealed to them by the company. In this > case even though the GPL license would allow them to redistribute > the binaries, doing so is indirectly made illegal by the NDA. Nonsense. We are talking apples and oranges here. Internal use of GPL software does not constitute distribution. However, if the company were actually distributing modified GPL binaries without providing source upon request, an NDA for its employees might result in consequences for the employees if they reveal this fact, but would not somehow override the GPL. Regards, Gora _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- [email protected] http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
