Re: chroot administration
Russell Coker writes:
> As the US government is prohibited from owning copyright they definately
> can't get a copyright in their own jurisdiction,...
The US government definitely is allowed to own copyrights. The restriction
is on _enforcing_ their copyrights on works of which they are author.
> ...and possibly can't apply for one in another jurisdiction (depending on
> interpretation).
And on the jurisdiction.
> The NSA paid a sum of money (rumored to be $2M) to SCC to write a Linux
> kernel patch to be distributed under the GPL which implements their
> patents.
Then most likely either SCC owns the copyright or they assigned it to NSA.
> The issue is that SCC was paid to write code for GPL release. Claiming
> otherwise would probably be a breach of their contract with the NSA...
Which only NSA can enforce. My first guess is that if SCC were to start
enforcing its patents against you then Linus et al could sue NSA to stop
distributing the patched kernel and NSA in turn could sue SCC for specific
performance.
Perhaps it would be possible to use the FOIA to get the terms of the
contract? Maybe NSA's lawyers already thought of all this. I think it is
perfectly legal and safe to distribute and use the patches now, but it
seems possible that SCC could start enforcing its patents at any time,
thereby stopping distribution.
--
John Hasler
john@dhh.gt.org (John Hasler)
Dancing Horse Hill
Elmwood, WI
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