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List:       kde-licensing
Subject:    Re: [rms@gnu.org: Re: can normal programs be LGPL'ed?]
From:       Roberto Alsina <ralsina () unl ! edu ! ar>
Date:       1998-12-01 11:52:41
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On Mon, 30 Nov 1998, Raul Miller wrote:

> Roberto Alsina <ralsina@unl.edu.ar> wrote:
> > If that's what the GPL means, why isn't it what the GPL says?
> > That's all my question. I mean, it looks like if the GPL was made
> > intentionally confusing.
> 
> I think what's confusing you is the nature of a compilation copyright.
> 
> For example, if you buy a book of short stories, or poems, the book will
> usually have a copyright on it.  The short stories (or poems) may have
> individual copyrights.  The rights granted in these copyrights don't
> have to be the same (but distribution of the book is limited by all the
> copyrights on the contents of the book).
> 
> The GPL is written such that if the GPL were the license on one of the
> short stories, the GPL would have to be the license on the book.  And,
> all the other short stories would have to have licenses which didn't
> conflict with the GPL.
> 
> If this is confusing, that's due to copyright law itself -- the issues
> are not specific to the GPL.

Well, actually when someone does a short story book what he does is to 
get permission to publish each story in the manner in which he will 
publish them.

That usually involves either paying the publishing rights owner what he 
wants, or nothing if the story is, say, 70 years old.

Literary works very rarely have a "license".

 ("\''/").__..-''"`-. .         Roberto Alsina
 `9_ 9  )   `-. (    ).`-._.`)  ralsina@unl.edu.ar
 (_Y_.)' ._   ) `._`.  " -.-'   Centro de Telematica
  _..`-'_..-_/ /-'_.'           Universidad Nacional del Litoral
(l)-'' ((i).' ((!.'             Santa Fe - Argentina
                                KDE Developer (MFCH)
Life isn't short. It's just that death is longer.

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