[vorbis] Is GNU tested, I doubt it..

[Tom Bishop]

Interesting reactions all...

In short I have become convinced that GPL is probably 
more sound than I thought at the start. Possibly bullet 
prof from a legal standpoint..

I was convinced by a letter from Andrew, (sent to me
directly, not to the list)....

He pointed out that the default arrangement is the 
"Berne" international copyright convention 
(not saying this right.. but)
and GPL only creates a "hole" in that, as long as you 
abide by the GPL rules.

The "default" is that the copyright holder CAN exclude
copying (unless their terms are met)..

This places little weight on GPL to "stand up" in court,
since the default, if one assumes that terms in the
GPL are somehow inherently unenforceable,
is that the copyright holder has control.

Hope I got this partially right.. Andrew?  ..he had it
stated better, but to copy his text to the list would 
be a copyright violoation.... ;-)

Regards,
Tom

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Hanson" <cmh at bDistributed.com>
To: <vorbis at xiph.org>
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2000 2:04 PM
Subject: Re: [vorbis] Is GNU tested, I doubt it..

> At 1:58 AM -0700 10/27/00, Tom Bishop wrote:
> >Although there seems to be a strong implication on other's part
> >the GNU is God or something..
> 
> As with any contract, unless you have direct evidence to the 
> contrary, counsel that agrees with your evidence, and a solid defense 
> prepared for the inevitable lawsuit, you MUST assume that a software 
> license agreement is binding.
> 
> >But you are correct, I doubt if GNU or ANY contract would
> >ever be found totally valid by any court.  Courts aren't like that,
> >and they, as the laws, vary from locality to locality.
> 
> The emphasis, of course, is on YOUR doubt.  I believe the GPL will 
> hold up pretty well, particular considering the directions that 
> copyright law and other law pertaining to intellectual property 
> privileges are taking.
> 
> >I am sorry if this speculation is uncomfortable for everyone.. but
> >it seems best to know what the world is really like as opposed
> >to the way one thinks it is...
> 
> The way the world really works is that most people are honest and 
> well-intentioned and will assume, unless presented with very strong 
> evidence to the contrary, that a contract or license agreement is 
> valid on its face.
> 
> Are you trying to convince people they shouldn't behave this way?  If 
> so, why?  What do you gain from it?  Anyone who's applying an Open 
> Source or Free Software license to their code already understands 
> that these licenses have not yet been tested in court and that there 
> may be some risk involved in using them.  I don't think you're 
> exploring any new ground.
> 
>    -- Chris
> 
> 
> -- 
> Christopher M. Hanson <cmh at bDistributed.com>
> President & CEO, bDistributed.com, Inc.
> Developers of database-backed web sites and Mac software
> (847) 372-3955
> 
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