Joe Moore <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > The publisher couldn't legally sell the book without the CD (or 2(b) > > notice); however, anyone else could buy a copy from the publisher, > > remove the CD, and resell it. See the "first sale" doctrine. > > But the reseller would be distributing a modified GPLd work (without > "source"), so would be bound by the terms of the GPL.
I think the "first sale" doctrine is just a USA thing[*], and I don't know much about it, but I think the idea is that selling a hard-copy book second-hand does not count as copying or distributing and can therefore be done without permission from the copyright holder, so the reseller would not be bound by the GPL. There may well be some other conditions attached to the "first sale" doctine to stop this becoming a loophole in the GPL or elsewhere, such as not handling lots of copies of the same work in this manner. [*] The following frequently seen words come to mind: "Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser."
