Re: Court overrules Copyright Act !!

[Rjack]

John Hasler wrote:
> mike3 writes:
> > I'm not quite clear as to what this implies. Does it mean that the GPL
> > won't work any more, or something else?
>
> It means that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
> has ruled that Free Software licenses are fully enforceable and that
> violators can be required to pay statutory damages and be subject to
> injunctions.

That decision was contrary to the controlling authority (the individual 
Courts of Appeals) in every other Federal Circuit in U.S. jurisdiction.
The Federal Circuit has original jurisdiction in patent cases. Unless
a copyright dispute is raised in the context of a patent dispute the 
Federal Circuit doesn't hear copyright cases. (Read the jurisdictional 
recitation in Jacobsen v. Katzer.)

http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions/08-1001.pdf

Take a deep breath and hold it John, while we all wait for this decision 
to become the controlling authority in another copyright case -- I'll 
see you in about twenty years.

Sincerely,
Rjack


-- FIELD OF USE RESTRICTION [general intellectual property-antitrust]. A
provision in an intellectual property license restricting the licensee
to use of the licensed property only in a defined product or service
market. --