Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sat, 29 May 1999 11:24:24 -0700 (PDT) | From | Tim Smith <> | Subject | Re: Annoying GPL issues |
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On Sun, 23 May 1999, Pavel Machek wrote: >> That is clearly a violation of the GPL. However, the FSF can't >> do anything to enforce the terms for using Linux, because only >> the copyright holders of Linux have legal standing to do that. > > Okay, maybe we can grant copyright of some part of core kernel code to > FSF. Anyone who does have code in kernel core should be able to grant > their copyright to FSF. [I'd volunteer, but my only bigger piece of > code in kernel is nbd ;-)]
There's another problem, pointed out by Theodore Ts'o in a private response to my earlier message where I expressed the opinion that the person who said the GPL on Linux was essentially worthless because the Linux developers weren't selling Linux, and so there would be no damages.
Mr. Ts'o pointed out that it doesn't appear that anyone is taking care of certain copyright formalities in the U.S., such as registering the copyright and depositing copies with the Library of Congress. Although these formalities are *not* required for copyright protection in the U.S., they *are* required to enable certain copyright infringement remedies. In particular, you can't ask for statutory damages if you skipped the formalities, and you can't ask for attorney fees if you win. You can still get an injunction if you win, and you can ask for actual damages and the infringers profits from the infringement. Actual damages will be close to zero, and unless the infringer is really big and it is a major product, profits attributable to the infringement is likely to be fairly small.
The net result is that there is a good chance that any money won from a Linux copyright infringement suit against someone small would probably not be nearly enough to cover the cost of bringing the suit.
Legal action outside the U.S. should not be affected by the lack of registration, of course.
By the way, if registration is made within three months of publication, no remedies are lost. Registration is cheap ($20) and simple. I'm not sure how the unusual nature of Linux affects things, but perhaps it would be a good idea to at least register some of the major components of the kernel, such as something that is important enough that any infringer would probably not be able to replace it and that is stable enough that it is not completely changing too often. Then, every three months, just file new registrations on all the versions of that component that have appeared in the last three months.
--Tim Smith
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