From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1760504AbYBEUg5 (ORCPT ); Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:36:57 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1759696AbYBEUgq (ORCPT ); Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:36:46 -0500 Received: from pentafluge.infradead.org ([213.146.154.40]:60674 "EHLO pentafluge.infradead.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1754695AbYBEUgp (ORCPT ); Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:36:45 -0500 Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 12:34:18 -0800 From: Greg KH To: David Newall Cc: Marcel Holtmann , Pekka Enberg , Christer Weinigel , linux-usb@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [PATCH] USB: mark USB drivers as being GPL only Message-ID: <20080205203418.GA5819@kroah.com> References: <20080125180232.GA4613@kroah.com> <20080202123710.42df1aa0@weinigel.se> <20080202191930.GA19826@kroah.com> <47A5D9CD.5070001@davidnewall.com> <84144f020802030743j1278ac64j2ee3e2cbc5c3fefc@mail.gmail.com> <47A5E67D.9040804@davidnewall.com> <1202058820.15090.60.camel@violet> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.16 (2007-06-09) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Tue, Feb 05, 2008 at 10:09:07PM +1030, David Newall wrote: > Marcel Holtmann writes: >> if a new drivers is originally written for Linux, then you are breaking >> the GPL. > > Completely wrong. However if the driver is distributed as built-in, then > it would need to be licensed under GPL. This means that a driver can be > written and distributed as a module under any licence, proprietary or > otherwise, presumably with the restriction that it may NOT be built-in. Again, you are wrong, as per the recommendations of every lawyer I have ever talked to (and unfortunatly, that's a lot...) It's fine for you to feel differently, and you yourself can act however you want to, but as you do not hold any copyright on any portions of the Linux kernel code, please do not speak as if your statements hold any weight. In the end, it's up to the copyright holders to enforce the license. And as I have stated in the past, a number of them have made public statements as to what they think about this issue. And it corresponds exactly with what Marcel has stated above. So if you wish to violate the copyright of others, you take the risk that you might be caught and punished, something that you and your legal council needs to take into account. thanks, greg k-h