Relicensing: what's legal and what's right

Posted Sep 6, 2007 13:56 UTC (Thu) by amikins (guest, #451)
In reply to: Relicensing: what's legal and what's right by nofutureuk
Parent article: Relicensing: what's legal and what's right

>I didn't say asking wasn't an option. But we are discussing a scenario where exactly the step of *asking* was left out. Asking applies to both parties.

What Dag has been trying to point out, and so far it doesn't look like you've acknowledged, is that the author of the dual-licensed code chose the particular wording of his dual-licensed code to give permission for the code to become GPL-only.

Asking wasn't needed, because the author had already said it was okay. This was again confirmed later by the author on LKML.

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Relicensing: what's legal and what's right

Posted Sep 6, 2007 14:19 UTC (Thu) by nofutureuk (subscriber, #3116) [Link] (1 responses)

As I said, my concern isn't so much about what was legal in this case, but more about what would be morally right (and feasible in the long run). So yes, I have *not* acknowledged anything about legality, because I am not a lawyer and I will try to avoid joining a legality discussion for the same reason.

It should also be noted that when I say "people" or "parties", I do not mean the exact people or parties involved in this case, but I was talking in general terms. Or did I start accusing the author of that patch or the author of the driver? If so, I must apologize.

It seems to be really hard to discuss culture these days, with people always bunkering behind laws. strange.

Relicensing: what's legal and what's right

Posted Sep 6, 2007 14:34 UTC (Thu) by amikins (guest, #451) [Link]

I'm a little baffled at how there can be a question if something is morally right when someone explicitly granted permission to do it. This isn't just a legality point.

If the author of a work wants people to be able to do something with it, and makes it clear that's their intent, where is the fault in taking them up on the offer?