[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: what's the killer app for GNU/Linux systems?



Nate Duehr writes:
> What if I don't WANT a Copyright.

The politicians and lawyers who created copyright law cannot conceive of
such a thing.  Consequently copyright is compulsory.  The best you can do
is explicitly license it for anyone to do anything they want with it.

> And that is the point I'm trying to drive home to anyone who believes
> that code requires a license.  It simply doesn't.

If you give or sell me a copy of a work of yours I own that copy and can do
as I please with it (that includes running it if it is a computer program)
with no need for a license.  However, copyright law forbids me to make and
distribute copies of it without your permission.

> Code is code, and is always Free, unless created under contract that it
> remain non-Free or released under a restrictive license like the GPL or
> BSD or anything else... anything other than raw code is encumbered with
> non-Freedom.

Code is protected by copyright by default and may not be copied and
distributed without permission of the copyright owner.

> it's just a point that few in the GPL fan-boy community ever even think
> about, let alone really digest fully.

Perhaps you should try actually reading the copyright law.  It is available
on line at
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sup_01_17.html>.

-- 
John Hasler



Reply to: