Re: GPL and other licences

[Stefaan A Eeckels]

On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 23:01:36 +0100
"Alfred M\. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org> wrote:

Alfred, can you please try and maintain proper attributions and follow
quoting conventions?

I wrote:
> > Remember that the point Alfred was making is that because the
> > software is licensed under the GPL, he is allowed to make a copy
> > _even_ if the CD is not his property and he was acting as an
> > agent of licensee/owner of the copy. To him, the license is a
> > magical property attached to the software, and not an agreement
> > between licensor and licensee.
> 
>    It depends on the license.  The GPL gives an explicity right for
> this, some other licenses may not.  If I'm in the legal possession of
> GPLed software, maybe because my employer gave me an CD to use and
> install that specific program, then I'm also allowed to redistribute
> it.
> ^^
> The _content_on_it_! not the acutual CD.

You do not have the right to copy the CD, so how could gain access to
the contents? 

It is only the owner of the CD who can accept the GPL and acquire the
right to make copies and distribute those. You, are not the owner of the
copy, and thus the copyright law applies. And this law _forbids_ you
from making _any_ copies unless you own the copy (in the case of
software for example, the owner of the copy is allowed to make the
copies required to run the program, for example from the CD to the hard
disk, and to the RAM and cache memory, as well as a backup). Ergo, you
cannot even access the CD to view the contents (displaying a file in an
editor is making a copy) unless you act as an agent for the owner of
the CD.

Take care,

-- 
Stefaan
-- 
As complexity rises, precise statements lose meaning,
and meaningful statements lose precision. -- Lotfi Zadeh