Re: Lilypond \include statements and the GPL

[Tim McNamara]

On Apr 2, 2013, at 5:37 PM, Joseph Rushton Wakeling <address@hidden> wrote:

> On 04/02/2013 11:57 PM, Anthonys Lists wrote:
>> On 02/04/2013 22:47, Joseph Rushton Wakeling wrote:
>>> Indeed, and a consequence of distributing a "covered work" under
>>> GPL-incompatible terms is that you lose the permissions granted under that
>>> license.
>> 
>> EXCEPT EXCEPT EXCEPT THE LAW SAYS YOU *DON'T* *NEED* ANY PERMISSION !!!
> 
> What, I don't need permission to use a computer program written by someone 
> else
> that is still in copyright?
> 
> I get to use the GNU Scientific Library _only_ because its authors have 
> granted
> me permission to do so.  That permission is conditional on my adhering to a
> number of conditions.  One of those conditions is that if I distribute what 
> the
> GPL refers to as a "covered work" -- in this case, a work based on the GNU
> Scientific Library, such as my little program -- I must do so under a
> GPL-compatible license.

Is that in fact correct?  The quibbles here is what constitutes derivation.  If 
you write a program that calls a library during its function, is that program 
derived from the library?  Or is the library just a resource that the 
application uses?  I think in fact and by tradition the latter situation is 
what applies.
> If I break that condition, I lose the permission granted to use the GNU
> Scientific Library.  That doesn't mean its authors can sue me for distributing
> my little piece of code under a proprietary license.  It means they can sue me
> if I continue to use the GNU Scientific Library.
> 
>> Sorry for shouting, but just go ask a lawyer. ANY lawyer with a half-way 
>> decent
>> grasp of copyright.
> 
> I suggest it's not me who doesn't understand copyright, but you who doesn't
> understand the niceties of the GPL.  I'll happily accept proof that I'm wrong,
> but shouting at me (or making general assertions about the relative priority 
> of
> the GPL versus the law) doesn't count as proof :-)

Make no mistake about it, the law has priority over the GPL in any court case.  
Especially if the court determines, as would quite possibly be the case, that 
the GPL has overreached (which in some ways it has).