Raul Miller wrote:
It's been suggested that existing case law with respect to copyrights always is based on contract law, and that the GPL can only be understood in terms of contract law.
(...)
I don't know and I won't try to figure out if your argument hold any merit in the USofA jurisdiction.However, there is the other option: Tort Law.
But I just want it to be known that it does not hold any water in Brasil or any similar jurisdiction because:
a) we don't have tort law as defined in the USofA (unfortunately, we don't even have punitive damages);
b) all software licenses are considered "computer program use license contracts" under the Computer Programs Law (9609/98) and, as such, are to be read under our contract law, that is defined by our Civil Code combined with our Consumer Protection Act, with the specific limitations in 9609/98.
-- HTH, Massa