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Re: The bigger issue is badly licensed blobs (was Re: Firmware poll



Sven Luther wrote:

> Since the firmware blobs are not derivative works of the kernel, but
> constitute mere agregation in the same binary format, the authors of other
> pieces of GPLed code fo the linux kernel cannot even sue us for
> distributing the kernel code with those GPL-violating binary BLOBs.

This is not clear in the cases where the blobs are embedded directly into
the kernel, particularly when they're embedded in the same source files. 
There's a case to be made that this is *not* mere aggregation, but creation
of an enhanced combination work which is derivative of both the firmware
and the other parts of the kernel.  Simply putting files side by side is
mere aggregation -- what's happening with the drivers and firmware might be
mere aggregation, but nobody can be sure until a court case happens.

-- 
Nathanael Nerode  <neroden@fastmail.fm>

Bush admitted to violating FISA and said he was proud of it.
So why isn't he in prison yet?...



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