Re: Plugins, libraries, licenses and Debian

[Arnoud Engelfriet <galactus@stack.nl>]

Anthony DeRobertis wrote:
> Huh? Please, could someone please find the derivative works in the
> following, in chronological order:
> 
>      1. I create a program, Anthony's Foo Editor, and add a plugin API.
>         I release my program under the MIT X11 license.
>      2. Weston Manning (a new maintiner) uploads Anthony's Foo Editor as
>         afe.
>      3. Marc Spencer creates a plugin, Frobit, under the OpenSSL license
>      4. Weston Manning uploads afe-frobit
>      5. Duncan Finch creates a plugin, Barnitz, under the GPL, version 2
>      6. Weston Manning uploads afe-barnitz

If I understand the FSF correctly, they claim that a package
containing both 'afe' and the 'barnitz' plugin is a derivative
work of the 'barnitz' plugin. Afe by itself of course isn't
a derivative, but someone who bundles the two is creating
something new based on two pre-existing works. 

And since the FSF's logic is "linking at runtime means
derivative work before runtime", it follows that the bundle
is a derivative work of the plugin.

Arnoud

-- 
Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch patent attorney - Speaking only for myself
Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/