On Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:45:38 -0700 Sean Kellogg wrote: > On Friday 13 March 2009 03:23:55 pm Ben Finney wrote: > > Alexander Block <ablock@blocksoftware.net> writes: > > > > > So does this mean that it's not possible to use this script inside > > > Debian? > > > > It means that Debian has no license to redistribute the work. > > Just in the interest of clearing up common copyright law > misunderstandings, the right to redistribute is not a matter of > copyright law. If I have the right to copy a work with no further > explicit conditions or restrictions, I have the right to distribute > those copies in the same way I have the right to give away my initial > copy under the first sale doctrine. Copyright law is only interested in > the acts that involve *copying*, everything after that is controlled by > contract law. Alexander, if you want your address to be dropped from this sub-thread, just say so... Sean, what you say seems to make perfectly sense, and indeed I cannot find any reference to "distribution" in the Berne Convention. But, on the other hand, could you please explain me how it reconciles with the actual text of copyright laws? U.S. copyright law [1] states, in section 106: [...] | the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do | and to authorize any of the following: [...] | (3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to | the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, | lease, or lending; Italian authors' right law (legge sul diritto d'autore) [2] states, in article 17: | 1. Il diritto esclusivo di distribuzione ha per oggetto la messa in | commercio o in circolazione, o comunque a disposizione, del pubblico, | con qualsiasi mezzo ed a qualsiasi titolo, dell'originale dell'opera o | degli esemplari di essa [...] which roughly translates in: ] 1. The exclusive right to distribute deals with the act of selling or ] circulating, or anyway making available, to the public, by any means ] and for any title, the original work or its copies [...] Since IANAL, I am probably missing something important in the picture. Could you please explain? [1] http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#106 [2] http://www.interlex.it/testi/l41_633.htm#17 -- On some search engines, searching for my nickname AND "nano-documents" may lead you to my website... ..................................................... Francesco Poli . GnuPG key fpr == C979 F34B 27CE 5CD8 DC12 31B5 78F4 279B DD6D FCF4
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