Messages in this thread | | | Date | Mon, 30 Aug 2004 02:14:13 -0700 | From | Craig Milo Rogers <> | Subject | Re: [linux-usb-devel] Re: Summarizing the PWC driver questions/answers |
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On 04.08.29, Alan Cox wrote: > A license was granted, for ever.
This has been discussed before (on this list, I think), and the answer may surprise you, or maybe not: nothing lasts forever.
I am not a laywer. I haven't looked at the U.K. copyright laws. I *have* read throught the relevant U.S. laws (a few years back), and a copyright assignment or license (which I believe is a broad enough category to include the GPL) *can* be terminated in the U.S. in certain cases -- that's quite clear. The "recapture" period (for works created after 1978) is a five-year period that starts 35 years after the license was issued. In that window, the author of copyrighted code, or the author's heirs or estate, have the option to revoke the original copyright assignment or license, i.e., in our case, presumably, revoke the GPL.
There are various details and procedures involved. They must be followed precisely, or the opportunity to recapture the copyright may be lost. One important detail is that work-for-hire copyright assignments may not be recaptured.
So, If you keep track of everyone to whom you, the author, *directly* distribute a copy of your GPL'd work (and thus assign an "original" GPL'd license), you might be able to effect a recapture by notifying everyone on that list. Then again, you might have to notify everyone who ever received a copy of the GPL'd code, directly from you or not. The GPL raises certain issues that simply weren't forseen by the framers of the statutes in question! :-)
Again, I don't have the U.S. Federal Code references at hand. However, here is an article that explains this issue for composers of music:
http://www.ascap.com/estates/estatescopyrights.html
Finally, three preemptive comments:
1) This aspect of copyright law is something that all professional authors should know about. You shouldn't have to relay upon a lawyer to know your basic legal rights.
2) Linus Torvalds has recently reinforced the notion that the Linux developers comminuty should behave as honorable gentlebeings, rather than behave as lawyers. This posting is not meant to gainsay that statement in any way. Think of knowledge of copyright law as akin to knowing the terrain of a potential battlefield -- even though the successful strategist seeks victory without the need for battle (Sun Tzu, more or less).
3) The U.S. Congress or courts could make further changes to the laws that affect copyright recapture. Again, nothing is forever.
Craig Milo Rogers - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
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