begin risky.vbs
<1ov0xnev85z2a$.dlg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Erik Funkenbusch <erik@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 09:57:48 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> Yes, the GPL has won in court for (at least) the third time in just a couple
>> of week. There's more on this in Groklaw.
>>
>> http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060922134536257
>
> As I suspected, this does not appear to be a case of testing the GPL in
> court, as is bandied about so often every time some case happens.
>
> The opinion of the court is that they didn't even consider the validity of
> the GPL because it was a catch-22 position. If the GPL were valid, then
> D-Link would be guilty of violating the license. If the GPL were invalid,
> then they would be guilty of copyright infringement. As such, D-Lind was
> going to lose either way and the question of the validity of the GPL was
> moot.
>
> The same is true of the 2004 Munich decision, AFAICT. The courts have
> concluded only that the GPL did not, in any way, forfeit the rights of the
> copyright holder to enforce their copyrights. The ruling does not rule on
> the validity of the GPL.
>From the article:
http://gpl-violations.org/news/20060922-dlink-judgement_frankfurt.html
Mr. Harald Welte, Linux Kernel developer and founder of
gpl-violations.org states :
"The Free Software community is very happy to see more and more
vendors to use Linux and other Free Software in their products.
However, Free Software is copyrighted material, much like any
other software. Redistribution may only take place in accordance
with its license."
On September 6, 2006 the district court issued its judgement,
confirming the claims by gpl-violations.org, specifically its
rights on the subject-matter source code, the violation of the GNU
GPL by D-Link, the validity of the GPL under German law, and
D-Links obligation to reimburse gpl-violations.org for legal
expenses, test purchase and cost of re-engineering. Only the
amount of the legal expenses was considered too high by some
insignificant amount of 300 EUR. Therefore, this decision marks a
clear-cut victory for gpl-violations.org. D-Link may file an
appeal against the judgement.
Now what does 'the validity of the GPL under German law' mean to you
Erik?
--
"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as
false, and by rulers as useful." -- Seneca the Younger (4? BC - 65 AD)
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