Re: What makes software copyrightable anyway?

[Raul Miller <moth.debian@gmail.com>]

I wrote:
> On 5/11/05, Humberto Massa <humberto.massa@almg.gov.br> wrote:
> > Nope. Binaries are the same work as (the anthology of) their sources, in
> > the eye of the Law 9609/98.
> 
> If I understand you correctly, this means that under Brazilian law, distribution
> of binaries would satisfy a legal requirement that source be distributed.
> 
> If this is really the case, the GPL is just a more complex version of the BSD
> license, under Brazilian law.

However, on the flip side -- if binaries are the same work as the sources under
the eyes of the law, then you can't construct any licenses which treat sources
differently from binaries.  They're the same.  Anyone who has the right to
distribute binaries also has the right to distribute sources.

I'm not sure if that's really the case, but if it is the case it
certainly addresses
some of the problems which triggered the GPL in the first place.

-- 
Raul