Re: [PATCH] USB: mark USB drivers as being GPL only

Alan Cox
2008-02-07T14:13:00Z

> Perhaps you might read up on unfair trade practices and contract law.

I'm familiar with them to some extent because I have run companies in the
past and continue to do so as a sideline to my Red Hat work. I also spend
more time than I'd like talking to lawyers about licencing.

> The contract (GPL) doesn't prevent me from using GPL work, in fact it
> encourages me. Neither can it impose conditions upon original work
> authored by a third party.

First mistake: The GPL is not a contract it is a license.

If the GPL was a contract it could most certainly impose conditions upon
original works. Contract law permits to write things like "If you buy the
source for this package you agree not to write a competing product for
three years even if an origina work".

Alan