Re: Binary Drivers

Dave Neuer
2006-12-21T22:36:48Z

On 12/21/06, Tomas Carnecky <tom@dbservice.com> wrote:
> James Porter wrote:
> > I'm pretty sure Linus has decided, basically he said the patches to
> > prevent non-gpl binary drivers are not going into his tree unless every
> > other tree adopts it. Of course the few supporting won't get off their
> > high horse and try it on a different tree.
>
> .. unfortunately, that doesn't make the legal status any clearer.

Well, FWIW, neither does some "decision" from the kernel authors; it
hinges on what is and what is not a derived work of the kernel, and
the only parties whose opinion matters here (the courts in the various
jurisdictions) haven't ruled on that yet, and won't until such time as
a copyright holder in the kernel sues someone for copyright
infringement.

Dave