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They're involved in the distribution

They're involved in the distribution

Posted Jul 10, 2007 22:54 UTC (Tue) by rickmoen (subscriber, #6943)
In reply to: They're involved in the distribution by sepreece
Parent article: Microsoft's proclamation on GPLv3

"sepreece" wrote:

No, you have received a piece of "GPLv2 or any later version" software, which is critically different from "a piece of GPLv3-covered software".

It is critically different in some other contexts, but not this one, which specifically concerned which of those two options I elected in the hypothetical. It's difficult to fathom how you could possibly have missed my meaning. I suspect you're somehow still hung up on your prior misconception that I'd claimed downstream recipients can dicatate what licensing applies upstream, which of course I said absolutely nowhere at all. But, regardless of where this bizarre interpretation is coming from, our discussion is logically at an end, for reasons detailed below.

The distributor chooses which apply to a particular distribution.

To the contrary: The redistributor has no such discretion, as setting licensing terms is by law the copyright owner's monopoly.

On that extremely key point, we apparently have no common grounds for discussion. You state that redistributors can pass along to downstream only the one of two licensing options specified by the codebase owner; I say that this interpretation is clearly contrary to fundamental copyright law. There is no point in further discussion, I think.

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com


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They're involved in the distribution

Posted Jul 11, 2007 1:13 UTC (Wed) by sepreece (subscriber, #19270) [Link]

Perhaps not.

Note that I did not say that the redistributor passes along only certain rights. In fact, I said the opposite - the recipient gets to choose between the available license versions to determine what rights, otherwise reserved to the copyright holder, the license grants to the recipient.

As you say, the redistributor does not get to "set the terms for the distribution"; the copyright holder does that. However, if the copyright holder used the "or any later version" language, the redistributor gets to *choose* between the available alternative sets of terms. That is exactlly what the license says and the FAQ confirms.

The redistributor gets to choose one specific license version to define the terms under which it conveys the covered work. Those terms define the redistributor's obligations under the license, including the patent license implications.

Again, I do not believe that Microsoft has ever distributed a work under the terms of GPLv3, which seems to be the operative question.

They're involved in the distribution

Posted Jul 11, 2007 1:25 UTC (Wed) by rickmoen (subscriber, #6943) [Link]

sepreece wrote:

As you say, the redistributor does not get to "set the terms for the distribution"; the copyright holder does that. However, if the copyright holder used the "or any later version" language, the redistributor gets to *choose* between the available alternative sets of terms.

You're contradicting yourself.

I'm sorry, but we have a fundamental difference, and my assessment is that you are also arguing with basics of copyright law. We clearly have no basis for discussion. Have a nice day.

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

They're involved in the distribution

Posted Jul 11, 2007 3:19 UTC (Wed) by sepreece (subscriber, #19270) [Link]

As you will; you have a nice day, too.

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