M?ns Rullg?rd wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Brian T. Sniffen) writes: > > No, that's because the GPL is designed to work well in a variety of > > legal climates, and each different jurisdiction spells out the > > definition of "Derived Work" in its own legal code. > > I did a quick look in Swedish and Norwegian copyright law (those are > the ones that apply to me), and I couldn't find the slightest hint of > a definition for anything.
Most European countries don't use the wording "derived work" in their copyright acts. They simply state the author has certain rights regarding the work, including altered versions or adaptations thereof. US law often spells out things a lot more. In Sweden, article 2 of the Copyright Act for example says "copyright shall include the exclusive right to control the work by reproducing it and by making it available to the public, be it in the original or an altered form, in translation or adaptation, in another literary or artistic form or by other technical means." And article 4 says "A person who has made a translation or an adaptation of a work or converted it into another literary or artistic form shall have copyright in the work in the new form, but his right to control it shall be subject to the copyright in the original work." So you would have to determine whether e.g. a program that links with a library is an "adaptation" under Swedish law. Sections 2 and 4 of the Norwegian law seem quite comparable. Electronic texts of laws (in English) are available through http://clea.wipo.int/ Arnoud -- Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch patent attorney - Speaking only for myself Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/