[H-GEN] GPL question

Anthony Towns aj at azure.humbug.org.au
Thu Jan 8 08:15:20 EST 2004


On Thu, Jan 08, 2004 at 09:00:27PM +1000, David Starkoff wrote:
> On 07/01/2004, at 6:35 PM, Anthony Towns wrote:
> >Right, but you can sell someone a copy of something without bothering 
> >to
> >write up a license, and 47B means they can do lots of stuff with it.
> Section 47B(1), by its 
> terms, only applies if the copy of the computer program that is being 
> executed is done "by, or on behalf of, the ... licensee of the copy".

Probably getting off-topic. Chat or private mail maybe?

Anyway, I'd always read "(b) the running of the copy is done by, or on
behalf of, the owner or licensee of the copy." as "the (owner or licensee)
of the copy", rather than "the owner or (licensee of the copy)". Given
that the following section includes the phrase "licence given by .. the
owner of the copyright [..] to the owner or licensee of the copy",
that seems to be the correct reading -- ie, that you can "own" a copy,
without being either the owner of the copyright, or a mere licensee. I
can't see any sense in the copyright owner being restricted by a license
he gives himself.

The austlii markup indicates otherwise, but I'll take grammar over markup.

My theory is you become an "owner" of a copy of a program, rather than
a licensee, if you're given that copy in some legal way, and it comes
without any license statement, again without illegal tampering involved.

> >Stupid copyright law.
> A man's gotta earn a living somehow...

Do you get kickbacks from the mental asylums for each new customer you
bring in?

Cheers,
aj

-- 
Anthony Towns <aj at humbug.org.au> <http://azure.humbug.org.au/~aj/>
I don't speak for anyone save myself. GPG signed mail preferred.

               Linux.conf.au 2004 -- Because we can.
           http://conf.linux.org.au/ -- Jan 12-17, 2004
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