Messages in this thread | | | From | "David Schwartz" <> | Subject | RE: Linux GPL and binary module exception clause? | Date | Thu, 4 Dec 2003 17:58:38 -0800 |
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> On Thu Dec 04, 2003 at 03:50:55PM -0800, Paul Adams wrote:
> > Unless actual Linux code is incorporated in a binary > > distribution > > in some form, I don't see how you can claim > > infringement of the > > copyright on Linux code, at least in the U.S.
> A kernel module is useless without a Linux kernel in which it can > be loaded. Once loaded, it becomes not merely an adjunct, but an > integrat part of the Linux kernel.
There you go, *ONCE* *LOADED* it becomes an integral part. So it's the *use* of it that makes it integral. Disitribution is prior to use.
> Further, it clearly > "incorporate[s] a portion of the copyrighted work" since it > can only operate within the context of the kernel by utilizing > Linux kernel function calls.
Except the kernel function calls are not copyrighted, only their implementation is. If you really meant what you're saying, any program that used 'malloc' would be a derived work of any implementation of 'malloc'.
> To abuse your earlier metaphor, a kernel module is not comparable > to a programmatic musical composition inspired by a novel. It is > better comparared with another novel with substantial similarity > in the theme, plot, sequence, settings, mood, dialogue, and > characters, with the same story being told, with trademarked > phrases and taglines, and that makes no sense whatsoever unless > you insert it's entire content over the top of page 450, > paragraph 4 (of the Linux "novel"), and which thereby changes > the ending of the original book...
So long as it must be mixed with the original work (and isn't already), it's not clear that it's a derived work as it sits. Again, otherwise any program that used 'malloc' would be a derived work of any implementation of 'malloc'.
DS
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