RE: GPL issues

Alan Cox
2006-04-15T11:46:13Z

On Gwe, 2006-04-14 at 11:56 -0700, David Schwartz wrote:
> Specifically, copyright does not protect ordinary use. If you buy a CD, you
> get the right to use that CD simply by virtue of the fact that you lawfully
> possess a lawfully made of the music on that CD.

The rights you get automatically for "use" depend a lot on the actual
thing itself and also the jurisdiction (local and national) and may even
in some ludicrous cases depend on even the size of the cark park your
building has.

To lawfully use the CD you must also not be violating the DMCA, own any
appropriate patent rights, not be using it for the purpose of committing
a crime, not using it to incite violence and on and on and on, down to
not using it loudly enough to disturb your neighbours excessively.

To "use" it for a public performance also generally falls under
copyright license restrictions (performance rights).

What you say may have been true two hundred years ago but the IPR laws
of the world have been growing ever more tangled and self contradictory
since then, like a badly maintained perl script.

Alan

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