Re: Re: Licensing problem in winstaller

On Thu, May 19, 2005 at 03:16:39PM +0000, Bob wrote:
> Matthew Toseland <toad@...> writes:
> 
> > Under UK law almost any time you copy a file is a copyright infringement
> > unless you have explicit permission or are covered by one of the
> > incredibly narrow exceptions. There is no real "fair use", in the
> > american sense. I might argue that in the UK it is necessary to accept
> > the GPL in order to use GPL'd software.
> 
> Hmm, well if that's true then I suppose it has to stay in some form. I thought
> that use was implicitly granted under the GPL's reversion to copyright, and
> making one backup copy is IIRC a right that can't be taken away by a EULA after
> the 'point of sale' on both sides of the pond (despite attempts to deny it
> through copy protection.)

No, making a backup copy is only allowed if the documentation says it is
allowed. That's one of the exceptions in the 1988 Copyright Act.
> 
> The only possible way I can see around it is to explicitly grant anyone the
> right to use and distribute the software as-is, as a copyright license. Then
> layer the optional GPL license rights on top of that if they agree to them. This
> sort of dual licensing isn't very elegant though.

Eww. Just let the user agree to the GPL.
> 
> > These issues are complex precisely because there are cross country issues... 
> > Anyhow, what do you propose we do about it? I don't want to have to get 
> > people to agree to the GPL when they run the distribution servlet...
> 
> Fair enough, it seems to be less straightforward than I thought. Perhaps just
> change the dialog text to note that whether agreeing is required only to use the
> software may depend on their local laws, hence it may be non-binding in that
> case. Clickthroughs have no real legal meaning anyway.

Actually a recent case involving Blizzard suggests that clickthroughs
are legally valid.
> 
> The maxNodeConnections=60 winstaller bug is probably more important :)

Absolutely. Do you happen to code Windoze? :)
> 
> Bob
-- 
Matthew J Toseland - toad-EI5O+8PHWbJeeLb3ft/[email protected]
Freenet Project Official Codemonkey - http://freenetproject.org/
ICTHUS - Nothing is impossible. Our Boss says so.

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