Rui Miguel Seabra wrote: [... *BONK* ... *BONK*BONK* ...]
Well, <quote author=Anonymous> // Yet another Groklaw gadfly, so to speak Wallace is just repeating what SCO claimed about IBM's Eight Counterclaim: 2. The GPL Should Not Be Read to Allow a Competitor to Regulate What May Be Charged for an Intellectual Property License By arguing that SCO breached the GPL by collecting "royalties and licensing fees in excess of the fees permitted by the GPL," IBM Mem. at 14, IBM seeks in essence an interpretation that the GPL fixes limits on the amounts that may be charged for unmodified works, even though the parties to the agreement are competitors. Agreements between competitors that fix a maximum price that may be charged for products are per se illegal under antitrust law. NYNEX Corp. v. Discon, Inc., 525 U.S. 128, 133 (1998); United States v. Socony- Vacuum Oil Co., 310 U.S. 150, 218 (1940). While SCO has shown above that section 2 of the GPL (the only GPL provision requiring licensing "at no charge") is inapplicable here, because this motion does not involve modified works, this provision is illegal and unenforceable. The general counsel for the Open Source Initiative acknowledges in his recent treatise: "There is also a problem that may prevent enforcement of the GPL's at no charge provision. It may be an illegal restraint of trade in some countries. Ordinarily, companies are allowed to set their own prices, and it is improper for a GPL licensor to restrain that in anyway." L. Rosen, Open Source Licensing 132 (2004), available at http://www.phptr.com/content/images/0131487876_ch06.pdf. </quote> Note that under FSF's copyright theory, Section 2 is applicable not only to modifications, but also to all "combinations" http://web.novalis.org/talks/compliance-for-developers/slide-6.html http://web.novalis.org/talks/compliance-for-developers/slide-75.html that are not legal http://web.novalis.org/talks/compliance-for-developers/slide-54.html in the GNU Republic. regards, alexander. _______________________________________________ Gnu-misc-discuss mailing list Gnu-misc-discuss@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss