Re: GNU licenses

[Lasse Reichstein Nielsen]

On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 12:15:35 +0200, Alfred M. Szmidt <ams@gnu.org> wrote:

(AMS citing "Merijn de Weerd" <merijn+nospam@realemail.net>)

>    If I distribute illegally, I am not bound by the license. See you
>    in federal court for copyright infringement. I won't have to see
>    you in state court where you try to compel specific performance of
>    the license.
>
> What you are basically saying is: If I commit murder, then I am not
> bound by the law.

No. That is said nowhere in the above paragraph.
Rather, it says you *are* bound by the law (and will be charged and
sentenced according to it). However, a license is not law.

> Obviously, you are bound by the law, and in the
> case of violating the license, bound by the license.

You are never *bound* by the GPL. The GPL is a unilateral, but conditional,
grant of rights. If you satisfy the conditions, you are granted a right.
If you don't satisfy the conditions, you are not granted it, and you
will not be allowed to distribute the work without breaking copyright law
(which you are bound by, whether you accept it or not).

>    And that text in the GPL does not change this one bit.
>
> Actually, it does, if the GPL didn't state this you would be allowed
> to do it, you are not, and thus bound by the license.

Except that it says "5. You are not required to accept this License, ...".
If you don't accept the license, it does not apply to you. You are *not*
bound by it in any way. You are still in violation of copyright law, since
nothing else gives you a right to distribute.

I.e., fail to satisfy conditions of the GPL =>
  no grant of right to distribute =>
    distribution violates copyright law.

/L
--
Lasse R. Nielsen - atwork@infimum.dk
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