What GPL/EU compatibility is needed? [LWN.net]

What GPL/EU compatibility is needed?

Posted Jan 9, 2013 11:17 UTC (Wed) by etienne (subscriber, #25256)
In reply to: What GPL/EU compatibility is needed? by ekj
Parent article: European Union's open source license to become compatible with GPLv3

> I find the model of copyright used here in Norway to be fairly reasonable...
> ... you don't need to agree to anything in particular to use the software for anything you like.

Are you saying that in Norway, if you completely break the GPL license (for instance by incorporating GPL source code inside your closed source product, pretending that you have written it all yourself, and selling that software), then you still have the right to use the initial GPL software, because:
- the copy of the GPL software you have downloaded from a FTP server has been created on your own hard drive by the FTP server and not by yourself
- the copy in /usr/bin resulting on the installation of the .deb/.rpm is "normal use"
- the copy in memory at execution time is also "normal use"?
Is it fairly reasonable?

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What GPL/EU compatibility is needed?

Posted Jan 9, 2013 11:43 UTC (Wed) by ekj (guest, #1524) [Link]

Yes. If you legally acquired the software, you can use it without breaking any laws.

But of course, the copyright-holder could sue you for illegally distributing a derived work from your FTP-server.

Those are two entirely distinct questions:

1) Can you legally *use* this software that you legally downloaded from wherever ? Yes you can.

2) Can you legally distribute copies of it, or works that are derived from it, without the permission of the copyright-holder ? No you can not.