Re: compatibility of bsd and gpl

[Lewis Jardine <debian@catbox.co.uk>]

Markus Laire wrote:
> On 10/9/06, Arnoud Engelfriet <arnoud@engelfriet.net> wrote:
> > Matthew Wala wrote:
> > > Is clause 3 of the BSD license ("The name of the author...") 
> > GPL-compatible?
> > Yes, because GPL article 1 has a corresponding requirement.
> I don't see any such requirement in GPLv2[1] article 1:
> I don't see there anything which says anything like BSD[2] clause 3:
> : Neither the name of the <ORGANIZATION> nor the names of its contributors
> : may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
> : without specific prior written permission.
>
> Is there a good reason why this isn't considered an additional restriction?

As I understand it, most trademark laws already stop you from claiming 
that Joe Random Hacker endorses things when he hasn't given you 
permission to say so.

Thusly, clause 3 of the BSD license isn't so much adding a restriction 
as failing to grant an additional permission, and then drawing your 
attention to something that would be the case with or without the license.

--
Lewis Jardine
IANAL, IANADD