Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

Bernd Petrovitsch
2007-06-14T08:38:19Z

On Wed, 2007-06-13 at 23:38 -0300, Alexandre Oliva wrote:
> On Jun 13, 2007, Daniel Hazelton <dhazelton@enter.net> wrote:
> > On Wednesday 13 June 2007 19:49:23 Alexandre Oliva wrote:
>
> > Exactly. They don't. What TiVO prevents is using that modified version on
> > their hardware. And they have that right, because the Hardware *ISN'T*
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
BTW as soon as I bought that thing, it is *my* hardware and no longer
*theirs* (whoever "theirs" was).

> > covered by the GPL.
>
> Indeed, TiVO has this legal right. But then they must not use

Do they? At least in .at, it is usually impossible to (legally) limit
the rights of the *owner* a (tangible) thing (and if I bought it, I *am*
the owner and no one else) - even if you put it in the sales contract
since this is discussion about/within sales law.

One usual example is "you buy a car and neither the car producer nor the
(re)seller can restrict the brands of the tires you may use or the brand
of the fuel etc.".

And the same holds for pretty much everything. No one can forbid you to
open a TV set and fix it (or let it fix by whoever I choose to).

Yes, there are exceptions in several laws for specific things (e.g. for
really dangerous ones like airbags in cars) but in general, you are
allowed to do almost anything (including the simple destruction of it).

And yes, if you *rent* the thing, you are not the owner and this is a
totally different thing.

> software under the GPLv3 in it. And, arguably, they must not use
> software under the GPLv2 either.

Bernd
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