On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 2:33 PM, Bruce Perens <[email protected]> wrote:
> Andy, > > I think you are confusing the commission of an act and the revelation of > evidence to others. If you consider it that way. there is no reason to > treat it as a quantum physics experiment. > > If you fail to distribute source code on request, at what time does it > become infringement? > > The answer is "at the moment that you distributed the binary". > At what moment do you 'fail' to distribute it? > > At the time you distributed the binary, you had a due diligence > requirement to have the complete and corresponding source code on hand and > ready for distribution, to have a structure in place to handle that > distribution in a timely manner, and to retain that structure in place for > three years. If you are unable to assure that at the time of distribution, > it's an act of infringement. The only question is when you are caught. > Actually, you do NOT have a due diligence requirement. You are inserting requirements which are NOT present. You are at a degree of risk if you do not, certainly in some cases possibly rather large risk, but you have not broken license if you fully intend on fulfilling the terms at the time a request is made to take you up on the offer. > > An embezzler does not become one when it is found that the books have been > cooked. He is an embezzler the moment he diverts the funds. And of course > many embezzlers tell themselves that they will put the money back, and then > they fail to do so. He may have a change of heart, replace the funds, and > never get caught. He may lose the money in Las Vegas and eventually be > revealed. But the commission of the act is the original diversion rather > than the later loss or replacement. > An embezzler is actively doing something. Your saying guilty until proven innocent, and I go back to my original examples. Motorola Mobility has provided sources after sanitizing and verifying source trees only *after* a request for the given sources was made. It is your opinion that since they failed to produce IMMEDIATELY on request, but spent several weeks producing the code after request, they they have stolen the Linux kernel and various GPL components, and have done a crime on par with embezzling funds for the Columbian Drug Cartel. -- -- Thomas
