NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1/NN_1993_1.iso/spool/gnu/misc/discuss/4319

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From: [e-mail] (Michael Zeleny)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss,talk.philosophy.misc,misc.legal
Subject: Re: Fund raising at the FSF
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 8 Jan 93 19:30:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc3.1993Jan8.143028.19112
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Organization: The Phallogocentric Cabal
Lines: 176
Nntp-Posting-Host: husc10.harvard.edu

In article <[e-mail]>
[e-mail] (Bill Johnston) writes:

>In article <[e-mail]>
>[e-mail] (Michael Zeleny) writes:

MZ:
>>[...]    With regard to the ownership issue, my reference is to the
>>Paragraph 5 of the Version 1, as was discussed in the preceding article;
>>I will not bother pointing it out in the text posted on the net.

BJ:
>OK.  I'll make it even easier.  Here is paragraph 5 of version 1.0
>of the GNU General Public License, from the file "COPYING-1.0"
>available on prep.ai.mit.edu and other gnu archive sites.

Note that "Paragraph 5", as distinct from "paragraph 5", refers to the
corresponding item of the Terms and Conditions, rather than the
Preamble.

>--- begin included text ---
>
>   We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
> (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy,
> distribute and/or modify the software.
>
>--- end included text ---

BJ:
>Strictly speaking, this paragraph is contained in the Preamble to
>the license text, which explains how the GPL works.  It is not
>part of the GPL itself, which begins after the preamble with the
>words:
>
>             GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
>   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
>
>etc.
>
>What is meant by Paragraph 5 is that the FSF "COPYING" terms have
>two essential parts, both of which must be present if their "evil
>scheme" ;-) is to work.  The first part is that the software must
>be released with an explicit copyright statement such as:
>
>      Copyright (C) 19yy  <name of author>
>
>The second part of the scheme is to attach the license, which
>describes the terms under which the copyright owner, "<name of
>author>", permits others to "copy, distribute and/or modify
>the software."
>
>That my interpretation of Paragraph 5 is indeed the one intended
>by its author(s) should be obvious after reading the Appendix of
>the file "COPYING", which follows the line
>
>             END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
>
>which marks the end of the license proper.
>
>Here is the text of that Appendix to "COPYING 1.0", to be consistent
>with Mr. Zeleny's reference to v.1.0.  A similar Appendix is present in
>"COPYING-2.0", which I posted earlier.  It should be readily apparent
>that the Appendix describes a procedure by which an author/owner can
>apply the terms of the GPL to work copyrighted in his or her name.
>
>--- begin included text ---
>
>    Appendix: How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
>
>  If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
>possible use to humanity, the best way to achieve this is to make it
>free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these
>terms.
>
>  To do so, attach the following notices to the program.  It is safest to
>attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively convey
>the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the
>"copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
>
>    <one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.>
>    Copyright (C) 19yy  <name of author>
>
>    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
>    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
>    the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option)
>    any later version.
>
>    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
>    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
>    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
>    GNU General Public License for more details.
>
>    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
>    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
>    Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
>
>Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
>
>If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
>when it starts in an interactive mode:
>
>    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19xx name of author
>    Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
>    This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
>    under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.
>
>The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the
>appropriate parts of the General Public License.  Of course, the
>commands you use may be called something other than `show w' and `show
>c'; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your
>program.
>
>You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
>school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if
>necessary.  Here a sample; alter the names:
>
>  Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the
>  program `Gnomovision' (a program to direct compilers to make passes
>  at assemblers) written by James Hacker.
>
>  <signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1989
>  Ty Coon, President of Vice
>
>That's all there is to it!
>
>--- end included text ---

How tedious.

________________________________

    5.  You may not copy, modify, sublicense, distribute or transfer
    the Program except as expressly provided under this General
    Public License.   .....

________________________________

>Returning to the article posted by Mr. Zeleny:

MZ:
>>The
>>question is precisely, to what extent the GPL attempts to supersede the
>>legal ownership rights attached to the copyright; I shall not presume to
>>judge the extent of its success in this attempt.

BJ:
>The answer, precisely, is "none".

Nonsense.  Insofar as, under Paragraph 3 of the selfsame GPL, "the
Program" clearly covers the derived works, which may be copyrighted in
their author's mame, the answer is "conclusively and irrevocably".
Please read the text more carefully next time.

BJ:
>To paraphrase two earlier bits from Mr. Zeleny's contribution
>to this discussion:
>
> 1)  Now would be a good time for Mr. Zeleny to admit his error.
>
> 2)  Are you going to be a man or a mouse about it, Mr. Zeleny?
>
>Please note that I am not accusing you Mr. Zeleny of "prevaricating"
>in repeatedly making false statements about the GPL;  I merely
>point out his error.  Readers can draw their own conclusions.

It looks like your strategy backfired once again.  The error is yours;
will you admit it?  Note that this time I am not accusing you of lying,
but assuming that you are merely being careless.

>--
>-- Bill Johnston ([e-mail])
>-- 38 Chambers Street; Newark, DE 19711; [phone]

cordially,
mikhail [e-mail]
"Le cul des femmes est monotone comme l'esprit des hommes."