On Mon, 4 Sep 2006 13:13:53 +0200 (CEST), "Alfred M. Szmidt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > If I copy a GPL-licensed work and utterly ignore whatever the GPL > says, how is a statement *in the GPL* going to change my legal > position? > > By copying the program, you accepted the license.
I did no such thing. It's possible to copy works without accepting their license. True, that's copyright violation. But hey, if I want to violate copyrights, I can do it. Sue me. > "distributing the Program (or any work based on the Program), you > indicate your acceptance of this License to do so" That statement can only become true once I accept the license. It is not a universal truth: suppose I distribute the Program with a big fat note "This note indicates I do not accept the GPL". > So your legal position if you ignore whatever the GNU GPL states is: > copyright infrigment. Yes. Hence my conclusion that the statement in the GPL has no value. Either I accept the GPL, in which case it's a truism (which has no value), or I do not accept the GPL, in which case my distribution by definition does not indicate my acceptance. Why does this matter? Well, if I accepted the GPL you can get a court order to make me abide by its terms. If I do not accept the GPL, you can sue for copyright infringement. Different laws, different consequences; maybe even different courts (e.g. federal vs. state, in the US). Merijn _______________________________________________ gnu-misc-discuss mailing list gnu-misc-discuss@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss
