Re: Combining proprietary code and GPL for in-house use

[tb@becket.net (Thomas Bushnell, BSG)]

Edmund GRIMLEY EVANS <edmundo@rano.org> writes:

> (1) The idea that compiling and linking a program is not restricted by
> copyright; you don't need special permission to compile and link a
> program once you have obtained a copy of it. 

But this is a confusion.  In one sense it's true, but in another sense
it's false.

One might also say that compiling and linking a program is not
restricted by the murder statute.  But it might well be that those are
steps in causing some machine to kill a person, and in that case,
compiling and linking would be a murderous act.

In the instant case, compiling and linking is not specifically
prohibited by the copyright statute, but that doesn't mean that you
can ignore the fact that they are going on.  They might well be part
of a larger more complicated activity, which *is* an act of illegal
copying. 

Thomas