Re: SFLC stipulated dismissal of Comtrend without any settlement

[Hyman Rosen]

On 4/9/2010 11:07 AM, Alexander Terekhov wrote:
> A copyright claim requires to identify PARTICULAR EXPRESSION
Yes, so?

> Why don't you post here "their GPL source code"?
For what?

> What "their GPL source code" are you talking about?
The source code of BusyBox.

As usual, you are failing to communicate.

BusyBox is a program in which the SFLC plaintiffs hold
copyright. It is a work which is in constant modification,
so there are many versions of it. Each modification is a
derivative work of the version modified, and therefore any
rights holder in a particular version is also a rights
holder in all subsequent versions.

The only permission to copy and distribute BusyBox comes
via its license, the GPL. If defendants are copying and
distributing any version of BusyBox without complying with
the GPL, then they are infringing copyright. It may be that
in some circuits, it is necessary that the rights holders
have registered the specific version alleged to be infringed,
in which case the plaintiffs can register that version and
refile their claims, with the only effect being that they
can not claim statutory damages for the infringement which
occurred prior to the registration.