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

David Schwartz
2007-06-18T23:00:22Z

> > But you're not the user of the software on my laptop. I am.

> ahh, but by your own argument you aren't

Let's not confuse owner with user and let's not confuse ownership of
copyrights with ownership of particular copies.

> the software on your laptop is owned by people like Linus, Al Viro, David
> M, Alan Cox, etc.

No. The copyright to the software is owned by those people. But particular
copies of copyrighted items can be owned by other people.

> they have the right to put a license on that software that would require
> you to give them access to your hardware (after all, that's the argument
> that you are useing to justify requireing Tivo to give you access
> to their hardware)

That's right, they do have that right so long as they condition it on the
exercise of something I could not do without their permission. (Ignoring for
the moment the fact that the software is a derivative work of GPL'd
software.)

I'm not sure whether you think this disagrees with or refutes anything I've
said.

DS