Re: PHPNuke license

[Walter Landry <wlandry@ucsd.edu>]

Don Armstrong <don@donarmstrong.com> wrote:
> [Just as a note, debian list policy is to _not_ Cc: individuals unless
> they explicitly ask for it, or set appropriate MFT:'s. I have done
> neither, so you need not Cc: me.]
> 
> On Mon, 10 Mar 2003, David Turner wrote:
> >> Anthony is quite reasonable in presuming that the current
> >> interpretation of "Fair Use" applies to cases where there is no
> >> copying taking place. 
> > 
> > I think this is fundamentally unsound, given Texaco. I gave an actual
> > Fair Use analysis in another message.
> 
> Fortunatly, AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION v. TEXACO INC., 60 F.3d 913
> (2nd Cir. 1994) is a rather narrow decision, and applies to a case
> where there actually was distribution (albiet internal) and where
> there was "institutional, systematic copying."[1]
> 
> I'm still at a loss as to how you intend for the this decision to
> apply to the elimination of Fair Use rights of software. Furthermore,
> I'd hope that RMS and others would prefer that people be able to do
> with software as they wished in their own homes, so long as they
> didn't distribute it. 

I've also read through the whole decision, and I can't see anywhere
that it talks about modifications not being fair use.  It only talks
about copying.  In fact, it seems to argue that if there had been
modifications (creating a transformative work) then there would be a
better defense against the copying.

Regards,
Walter Landry
wlandry@ucsd.edu