Re: Fwd: Libranet (Debian derivate) requires $10 membership
On Mon, 7 Aug 2000, Edmund GRIMLEY EVANS wrote:
> > > You may freely download and use this distribution for any purpose with
> > > the exception that you may not sell or distribute this iso image
> > > without prior permission from Libra Computer Systems Ltd.
...
> However, this change may be unnecessary. It's highly probably that
> Libranet would have a valid copyright over the iso image even if the
It looks to me like Libranet is trying to confuse users and fool them into
thinking that the software itself is property of Libranet. While Libranet
is not claiming rights over the software itself (just the ISO image, which
they do have rights to), 90% of the people that use the software won't
realize this. For example, you could copy all the files on the CD into a
.tar file and distribute that, but few people will realize it. All their
license really prohibits is verbatim copying of the CD-ROM.
I don't think the GPL really addresses the idea of licensing of a
collection of software as a whole. It seems to have been designed with
the premise that no matter how it was distributed, the actual GPL-licensed
software would always be free.
> By the way, I think it would be bad for Debian if what Libranet is
> doing were to turn out to be illegal.
Why?
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