RE: non-free firmware in kernel modules, aggregation and unclear copyright notice.

David Schwartz
2005-04-12T16:48:24Z

> David Schwartz <davids@webmaster.com> wrote:
>
> >>Copyright law only _explicitly_ grants a monopoly on preparation of
> >>derivative works. However, it is trivial, and overwhelmingly common,
> >>for a copyright owner to grant a license to create a derivative work
> >>that is conditional on how the licensee agrees to distribute (or not
> >>distribute) the derivative work.

> > This would, of course, only make sense if you *had* to agree to
> > the license
> > to *create* the derivative work. If you were able to create the
> > derivative
> > work under first sale or fair use rights, then the restrictions in the
> > contract would not apply to you.

> If you buy a W*nd*ws install CD, you can create a derived work,
> e.g. an image
> of your installation, under the fair use rights (IANAL). Can you
> distribute
> that image freely?

I would say that if not for the EULA, you could transfer ownership of the
image to someone else. And if you legally acquired two copies of Windows,
you could install both of them and transfer them. Otherwise, you could not
sell a machine with the Windows OS installed unless you were a Microsoft
OEM. Does Microsoft take the position that if you want to sell your PC, you
must wipe the OS? Not that I know of.

DS