Messages in this thread | | | Date | Fri, 08 Apr 2005 09:08:59 -0300 | From | Humberto Massa <> | Subject | Re: non-free firmware in kernel modules, aggregation and unclear copyright notice. |
| |
Adrian Bunk wrote:
>Debian doesn't seem to care much about the possible legal problems of >patents. > > The possible legal problem of software patents is, up to the present time, AFAICT, not producing effects yet in Europe, and is a non-problem in jurisdictions like mine (down here neither business methods nor software are patentable).
>The firmware issues are an urgent real problem? > > OTOH, the firmware issues *is* a legal real problem (copyright infringement is even a criminal offense in a lot of juristictions -- down here, 6 months to 2 years of soft jail + fine for non-commercial and 2 to 4 years of hard-jail + fine for commercial intents).
>Debian should define how much legal risk they are willing to impose on >their mirrors and distributors and should act accordingly in all areas. > > You are right, but as I told you, the mirrors are really worse when there is a chance of copyrights infringement than of patents infringement -- even on those jurisdictions that *have* software patents, things are more difficult to prosecute in the patent field.
>But ignoring some areas while being more religious than RMS in other >areas is simply silly. > > Conceded. You are right on this.
HTH, Massa
- 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/
| |