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Re: US court says software is owned, not licensed


From: David Kastrup
Subject: Re: US court says software is owned, not licensed
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:53:55 +0200
User-agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.1.50 (gnu/linux)

Alexander Terekhov <terekhov@web.de> writes:

> Robert Heller wrote:
> [...]
>> If one has, for example, a shrink wrapped copy, never opened (and thus
>> never installed), it is perfectly legal to re-sell that copy.  I
>> believe that was citizen.org's case.  Once you install it (eg open the
>
> Stop here, Heeler.
>
> Don't you own a legitimate "GPL'd" copy (after making a copy of the
> copy pursuant to the GPL) just like in the former case, Heeler?

An authorized copy.  The authorization was bound to conditions.  They
don't fall away suddenly.

If you sell those physical copies, the recipient has indeed first sales
rights.  But not you.  Not to the copies you made under permission of
the GPL.

Is that a loophole for the GPL in US jurisdiction?  Maybe, but
apparently not large enough to be attractive for setting up a business.

-- 
David Kastrup


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