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Re: Novell-MS Pact: Novell opens legal books to GPL pundits
From: |
Alexander Terekhov |
Subject: |
Re: Novell-MS Pact: Novell opens legal books to GPL pundits |
Date: |
Fri, 10 Nov 2006 20:07:46 +0100 |
LOL.
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2168151/novells-opens-microsoft
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Novell has partnered with the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) to
ensure that its partnership with Microsoft does not violate any terms of
the General Public Licence.
"The SFLC has been offered cooperation by Novell sufficient to permit a
confidential audit to determine whether the licence provisions of the
GPL have been complied with," SFLC chairman Eben Moglen told vnunet.com.
The SFLC provides legal services to the open source community, and is
coordinating the forthcoming version 3 revision of the GPL.
Microsoft and Novell unveiled a partnership last week around Novell's
SuSE Linux Enterprise Linux distribution. The deal will protect SuSE
Linux users from potential legal claims by Microsoft.
Moglen sharply criticised the agreement last week, claiming that it
would be incompatible with the GPL3 and possibly the current GPL2.
Section seven of the GPL2 prohibits people or corporations from
distributing the GPL code if they have entered into any agreements that
contradict the conditions of the licence.
"If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your
obligations under this licence and any other pertinent obligations, you
may not distribute the program at all," the GPL states.
The upcoming version 3 further restricts the use of patents in
combination with the GPL by explicitly prohibiting distributors from
asserting any patent claims against open source developers.
Moglen insisted last week that the GPL3 provisions could not be
circumvented.
"Maybe it will turn out that [Novell and Microsoft] have cleared the
[GPL2] barrier by a millimetre. But they will not clear GPL3 by a
millimetre," he said.
Novell published a document on Tuesday on its website addressing some of
the concerns from the open source community.
The company claims that it has worked around the GPL provisions by
providing patent licences directly to customers and not between the two
vendors.
"Novell's customers receive a covenant not to sue directly from
Microsoft. We have not agreed with Microsoft to any condition that would
contradict the conditions of the GPL and we are in full compliance," the
company claims.
"Novell's end user customers receive a covenant not to sue directly from
Microsoft for their use of Novell products and services, but these
activities are outside the scope of the GPL."
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regards,
alexander.
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: Novellization, (continued)
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: Novellization, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/08
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: SEC complaint?, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/08
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: PJ is still struggling to grok the deal, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/08
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: "Doctrine of Laches", eh?, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/08
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: "why not?" says Linus, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/09
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: "precariously to developers who work in a vacuum" and EASTERBROOK, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/09
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: Mono blah-blah, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/10
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: Mono blah-blah, David Kastrup, 2006/11/10
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: Mono blah-blah, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/10
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: Mono blah-blah, David Kastrup, 2006/11/10
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: Novell opens legal books to GPL pundits,
Alexander Terekhov <=
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: "It's hard for corporate entities to really grasp the GPL. It's a learning process", Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/10
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: Novell opens legal books to GPL pundits, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/10
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: Novell opens legal books to GPL pundits, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/10
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: Samba Team calls upon Novell to work with the Software Freedom Law Center to undo the pact, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/13
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: "We will change the law such that ... we will reverse the legal consequences of this deal" says Eben, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/16
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: SFLC's arrangement with Novell?, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/20
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: "Free, well that means stuff you don't pay for... and we can never go bankrupt because we have no business to lose" says Eben, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/21
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: "Free, well that means stuff you don't pay for... and we can never go bankrupt because we have no business to lose" says Eben, rjack, 2006/11/21
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: "Moglen misquoted by Reuters" says PJ-groklaw's subscriber "nb", Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/21
- Re: Novell-MS Pact: "intentional interference with contractual relations" comes to Esq. Mettler's mind, Alexander Terekhov, 2006/11/24