[Cross posting cut out, because this isn't particularly germane to the other lists.]
On Fri, 20 Oct 2006, Sven Luther wrote: > IANAL and everything, but all times we discussed the issue the > opinion that prevaled, was that the firmware do not constitute a > derivative work of the kernel, This is true when they're separate; the question is whether the kernel+firmware is a derivative work of the kernel, or mere aggregation. [It's well within the realm of copyright law to prevent putting the firmware with the kernel in a single package, so you have to activate the aggregation clause to avoid having the GPL apply as well.] The arguments for mere aggregation are that it's trivial to separate out the firmware into a separate file; the arguments against is that the kernel stops functioning as well when the firmware is no longer included. While I think this is grey enough not to lose too much sleep over for those firmware which are not licensed under the GPL, it's definetly not clear cut at all one way or the other. > in the same way that if the firmware is contained in a flash on the > card, it does not constitute a derivative work of the kernel, and in > the same way a free compressor which can generate compressed archive > with builtin uncompressor binaries, is not a derivative work of the > compressed files it contains. These examples are not similar at all, because you're not distributing them together. Don Armstrong -- Guns Don't Kill People. *I* Kill People. http://www.donarmstrong.com http://rzlab.ucr.edu -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
