Re: GPL 3 and derivatives

[Arnoud Engelfriet <arnoud@engelfriet.net>]

Shriramana Sharma wrote:
> GPL v3 does not at all have the word "derivative". Apparently this is an 
> attempt at making the GPL less dependent on the US legal system, which 
> is a good thing ok but I can hardly read this text. 

You have to put several pieces together.

First, definition:
To "modify" a work means to copy from or adapt all or part of the work in a
fashion requiring copyright permission, other than the making of an exact
copy. The resulting work is called a "modified version" of the earlier work
or a work "based on"the earlier work.

Section 5:
You may convey a work based on the Program, or the modifications to produce
it from the Program, in the form of source code under the terms of section
4, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:

The idea here is that you first determine the applicable copyright law,
then determine what kind of copying or adaptations require
copyright permission, and then see if section 5 has been complied with.

Under US law you still get the derivative-work test. But now other
copyright laws can use their own criteria for "adaptation".

The one thing that's going to trip a lot of people up is that
"does linking create a derivative work" is no longer a relevant question.
That's because "linking" is now an act that makes things part of
the SOURCE CODE:
"Corresponding Source includes interface definition files associated with
source files for the work, and the source code for shared libraries and
dynamically linked subprograms that the work is specifically designed to
require, such as by intimate data communication or control flow between
those subprograms and other parts of the work."

Regardless of what your copyright law may say about "adaptations",
you face an obligation to hand over source for linked libraries
(except for system libraries).

Arnoud

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