"Mere aggregation" is there for a reason. [LWN.net]

"Mere aggregation" is there for a reason.

Posted Dec 1, 2010 2:51 UTC (Wed) by madscientist (subscriber, #16861)
In reply to: "Mere aggregation" is there for a reason. by khim
Parent article: The kernel and the C library as a single project

> To bind two completely unconnected things together on a single media you
> still need explicit permissions from both copyright owners.

Of course, to redistribute something you need permission because copyright restricts redistribution. And of course a license that grants you permission to redistribute one way MAY restrict redistribution in other ways: this is not uncommon even. As you point out, many licenses such as Adobe's allow you to use the software only if you obtain it directly from Adobe; you cannot give the software to someone else. THAT is why you cannot get a CD with both Linux and Flash bundled on it; it has NOTHING to do with the GPL. You can't distribute a CD that contains nothing but Flash, even... unless you've executed a different license agreement with Adobe.

I guess we can disagree about whether the "mere aggregation" clause is necessary; my belief is that it's there merely as a clarification and that even without it the GPL implicitly allows aggregation. Maybe not. Either way it's moot because the clause DOES exist and so both the GPL and LGPL make explicit that aggregation is allowed.

Your argument was that because the kernel and libc would be developed together, somehow they would not be able to take advantage of the "mere aggregation" clause any longer. In order for that to be the case, libc would have to become a "work based on the Program" (e.g., the kernel); as long as it's not a work based on the Program, it can still take advantage of "mere aggregation". Whether or not libc is a "work based on the Program" depends on whether it is a legally derived work or not; it has nothing to do with the development model.

In other words, as I mentioned before, if libc developed by GNU is not considered to be a derived work of the kernel (and hence can take advantage of "mere aggregation"), then why would libc developed by kernel developers be a derived work (and hence NOT be able to take advantage of "mere aggregation")?

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"Mere aggregation" is there for a reason.

Posted Dec 1, 2010 3:08 UTC (Wed) by Trelane (guest, #56877) [Link] (4 responses)

Of course, to redistribute something you need permission because copyright restricts redistribution.

No, copyright restricts, erm, copying. Hence the name.

"Mere aggregation" is there for a reason.

Posted Dec 1, 2010 3:14 UTC (Wed) by Trelane (guest, #56877) [Link] (2 responses)

Ha. And, of course, I'm wrong. Quoth the Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf)

Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;
To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
To display the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work; and
In the case of sound recordings,* to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.
In addition, certain authors of works of visual art have the rights of attribution and integrity as described in section 106A of the 1976 Copyright Act.

"Mere aggregation" is there for a reason.

Posted Dec 2, 2010 1:49 UTC (Thu) by nybble41 (subscriber, #55106) [Link]

That's true of section 106 the original Copyright Act, but section 109 ("Limitations on exclusive rights") and the Doctrine of First Sale pretty much nullify the third point in the case of simple redistribution or public exhibition of existing copies--apart from sound recordings or software, which were (idiotically) excluded from the limitations in section 109(a) by 109(b).

Copy, right?

Posted Dec 6, 2010 0:24 UTC (Mon) by marcH (subscriber, #57642) [Link]

> Ha. And, of course, I'm wrong.

Err... you mean, you are right?

Every bullet point you quote is about reproducing the original work in one way or the other. That does not seem to stretch the meaning of "copy" a lot, or does it?

"Mere aggregation" is there for a reason.

Posted Dec 1, 2010 10:07 UTC (Wed) by PO8 (guest, #41661) [Link]

The term "copyright" originally was used to describe rights upon "copy" in the older sense of written material. The term itself had nothing explicit to do with "copying". Of course, it's easy to see where the confusion could come from here.