Re: What exactly is Derivative ?

[Richard Braakman <dark@xs4all.nl>]

Paul Nathan Puri wrote:
> In copyright law, there are no defined distinctions.  For the most part
> you must judge for yourself.  The discussion about the GPL, LGPL, etc., is
> outside the scope of copyright law, and is governed by Contract law.
> Therefore, 'What is a derivative' is not a pertinent question if your
> query concerns an author's rights under the license in question.

Free software licenses, however, derive their force from copyright law.
To quote from the GPL:

    5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
  signed it.  However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or
  distribute the Program or its derivative works.  These actions are
  prohibited by law if you do not accept this License.  Therefore, by
  modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the
  Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and
  all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying
  the Program or works based on it.

If my work is not a derivative of the GPL'd work, under copyright law,
then that work's license has no bearing on mine.

Richard Braakman