Re: Plugins, libraries, licenses and Debian

[Arnoud Engelfriet <galactus@stack.nl>]

M?ns Rullg?rd wrote:
> bts@alum.mit.edu (Brian T. Sniffen) writes:
> > No, that's because the GPL is designed to work well in a variety of
> > legal climates, and each different jurisdiction spells out the
> > definition of "Derived Work" in its own legal code.
> 
> I did a quick look in Swedish and Norwegian copyright law (those are
> the ones that apply to me), and I couldn't find the slightest hint of
> a definition for anything.

Most European countries don't use the wording "derived work"
in their copyright acts. They simply state the author has
certain rights regarding the work, including altered versions
or adaptations thereof. US law often spells out things a lot
more.

In Sweden, article 2 of the Copyright Act for example says
"copyright shall include the exclusive right to control the work
by reproducing it and by making it available to the public, be
it in the original or an altered form, in translation or
adaptation, in another literary or artistic form or by other
technical means."

And article 4 says "A person who has made a translation or an
adaptation of a work or converted it into another literary or
artistic form shall have copyright in the work in the new form,
but his right to control it shall be subject to the copyright in
the original work."

So you would have to determine whether e.g. a program that links
with a library is an "adaptation" under Swedish law. 

Sections 2 and 4 of the Norwegian law seem quite comparable.

Electronic texts of laws (in English) are available through
http://clea.wipo.int/

Arnoud

-- 
Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch patent attorney - Speaking only for myself
Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/