Re: GNU licenses

[Merijn de Weerd]

On 2006-09-03, Alfred M. Szmidt <ams@gnu.org> wrote:
> Breach of a copyright license is copyright infringement.

Doing an act *which is not licensed* is copyright infringement.
If I authorize you to copy my work verbatim, and you change it,
you infringe my copyright. 

Doing a licensed act but failing to comply with conditions
is *breach of contract*
If I authorize you to copy in return for payment of $1 per
copy, and you don't pay, you are in breach of the license.
Yet I can only sue you for non-performance and demand the
dollar per copy.

> If the person does not follow the terms of the license, then I could
> not have possibly `licensed him to do the acts'; and thus he can be
> sued for copyright infringement.

If I say "you are authorized to copy my work, at a fee
of $1 per copy", then you are authorized to copy. Non-payment
of the fee does not negate the authorization unless and
until I terminate the contract for failure to perform
on your part. You have a contract, the contract says you
have the right to copy, and we're fighting over the
obligations the contract imposes upon you.

Merijn

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