Copyleft/guide Changeset - f61dad4e0e75

Changeset - f61dad4e0e75

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Bradley M. Kuhn - 21 years ago 2003-05-28 23:01:46
bkuhn@fsf.org

* Wrote most of GPL Section 0 Section

3 files changed with 93 insertions and 4 deletions:

GPL-Business/ChangeLog

GPL-Business/gpl-business.kpr

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GPL-Business/gpl-business.tex

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 -05-28  Bradley M. Kuhn  <bkuhn@fsf.org>
 	* gpl-business.tex (section{An Ecosystem of Equality}): Started
 	section.
 	(subsection{The Non-Commercial Ecosystem}): Wrote subsection.
 	(subsection{The Commercial Ecosystem}): Wrote subsection.
 	(subsection{Law Analogy}): Wrote subsection.
 	(chapter{Copying, Modifying and Redistributing}): Started chapter.
 	(section{GPL, \S 0: Freedom to Run}): Wrote most of the section.
 -05-27  Bradley M. Kuhn  <bkuhn@fsf.org>
 	* gpl-business.tex (section{How Does Software Become Free?}):
 	Finished section.
 	(subsection{Public Domain Software}): Wrote section.
 -05-26  Bradley M. Kuhn  <bkuhn@fsf.org>
 	* gpl-business.tex (subsection{The Freedom to Copy and Share}):
 	Wrote subsection.
 	(subsection{The Freedom to Share Improvements}): Wrote subsection.

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@@ ... @@
 efficient application.  Instead, openness and transparency are the
 constraints within which a legal system gets built, not options to be
 added if convenient to the leaders.  Life governed by software code should
 be no less.
 Code writing is not litigation.  It is better, richer, more
 productive. But the law is an obvious instance of how creativity and
 incentives do not depend upon perfect control over the products created.
 Like jazz, or novels, or architecture, the law gets built upon the work
 that went before. This adding and changing is what creativity always is.
 And a free society is one that assures that its most important resources
 remain free in just this sense.\footnote{This quotation is Copyright
   \copyright{} 2002, Lawrence Lessig.  Verbatim copying of this quotation
   in its entirety is permitted provided this notice is preserved.}
   \copyright{} 2002, Lawrence Lessig.  It is licensed under the terms of
   \href{http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/}{the ``Attribution
     License'', version 1.0} or any later version as published by Creative
   Commons.}
 \end{quotation}
 In essence, lawyers are paid to service the shared commons of legal
 infrastructure.  Few defend themselves in court or write their own briefs
 (even though they legally permitted to do so) because everyone would
 prefer to have an expert do that job.
 The Free Software economy is a market that is ripe for experts.  It
 functions similarly to other well established professional fields like the
 law.  The GPL, in turn, serves as the legal scaffolding that permits the
 creation of this vibrant commercial and non-commercial Free Software
 economy.
 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 \chapter{Copying, Modifying and Redistributing}
 This chapter begins the deep discussion of the details of the terms of
 GPL\@.  In this chapter, we consider the core terms: GPL \S\S 0--3.  These
 are the sections of the GPL that fundamentally define the legal details of
 how software freedom is respected.
 \section{GPL, \S 0: Freedom to Run}
 \S 0, the opening section of GPL, sets forth that the work is governed by
 copyright law.  It specifically points out that it is the ``copyright
 holder'' who decides if a work is licensed under its terms, and explains
 how the copyright holder might indicate this fact.
 A bit more subtly, \S 0 makes an inference that copyright law is the only
 system under which it is governed.  Specifically, it states:
 \begin{quote}
 Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
 covered by this License; they are outside its scope.
 \end{quote}
 In essence, the license governs \emph{only} those activites and all other
 activities are unrestricted, provided that no other agreements trump GPL
 (which they cannot; see Sections~\ref{GPLs6} and~\ref{GPLs7}).  This is
 very important, because the Free Software community heavily supports
 users' rights to ``fair use'' and ``unregulated use'' of copyrighted
 material.  GPL asserts through this clause that it supports users' rights
 to fair and unregulated uses.
 Fair use of copyrighted material is an established legal doctrine that
 permits certain activities.  Discussion of the various types of fair use
 activity are beyond the scope of this tutorial.  However, one important
 example of fair use is the right to reverse engineering software.
 Fair use is a doctrine established by the courts or by statute.  By
 contrast, unregulated uses are those that are not covered by the statue
 nor determined by a court to be covered, but are common and enjoyed by
 many users.  An example of unregulated use is reading a program like a
 novel for the purpose of learning how to be a better programmer.
 \medskip
 Thus, the GPL protects users fair and uregulated use rights precisely by
 not attempting to cover them.  Furthermore, the GPL ensures the freedom
 to run specifically by stating the following:
 \begin{quote}
 The act of running the Program is not restricted
 \end{quote}
 Thus, users are explicitly given the freedom to run by \S 0.
 \medskip
 The bulk of \S 0 not mentioned here gives definitions for other terms used
 throughout.  The only one worth discussing in detail is ``work based on
 the Program''.  The reason this definition is particular interesting is
 that
 \section{GPL, \S 1}
 \section{GPL, \S 2}
 \section{GPL, \S 3}
 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 \chapter{Defending Freedom On Many Fronts}
 \section{GPL, Section 4}
 \section{GPL, Section 5}
 \label{GPLs5}
 \section{GPL, Section 6}
 \label{GPLs6}
 \section{GPL, Section 7}
 \label{GPLs7}
 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 \chapter{Odds, Ends, and Absolutely No Warranty}
 There was a case where the disclaimer of a contract was negated because it
 was not "conspicuous" to the person entering into the contract.  Therefore,
 to make such language "conspicuous" people started bolding it.  My question
 has always been, does that mean all the other parts of the document aren't
 important such that they too need to be "conspicuous."
 As for disclaiming warranties, remember that there are many types of
 warranties, and in some jurisdictions some of them cannot be disclaimed.
 Therefore, usually agreements will have both a warranty disclaimer and a
 limitation of liability.  The former gets rid of everything that can be
 gotten rid of, while the latter limits the liability of the actor for any
 warranties that cannot be disclaimed (such as personal injury, etc.).
 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 \chapter{Business Models, Internal Use, and Compliance}
 \appendix
 \chapter{The GNU General Public License}
 \begin{center}
 {\parindent 0in
 Version 2, June 1991
@@ ... / @@ -658,25 +745,25 @@ modification follow. @@
 \begin{center}
 {\Large \sc Terms and Conditions For Copying, Distribution and
   Modification}
 \end{center}
 %\renewcommand{\theenumi}{\alpha{enumi}}
 \begin{enumerate}
 \addtocounter{enumi}{-1}
-\item
+\item
 This License applies to any program or other work which contains a notice
 placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the
 terms of this General Public License.  The ``Program'', below, refers to
 any such program or work, and a ``work based on the Program'' means either
 the Program or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a
 work containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with
 modifications and/or translated into another language.  (Hereinafter,
 translation is included without limitation in the term ``modification''.)
 Each licensee is addressed as ``you''.
 Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
@@ ... / @@ -696,25 +783,25 @@ Whether that is true depends on what the Program does. @@
 You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you
 may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.
 \item
 You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion
 of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and
 distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1
 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
 \begin{enumerate}
-\item
+\item
 You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that
 you changed the files and the date of any change.
 \item
 You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
 whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any
 part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
 parties under the terms of this License.
 \item

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