nanocrew.net — Jon says he contacted a lawyer about Sony BMG's infringement of his copyright on the FairPlay code he wrote for VLC. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like he can do anything since his work was not registered with the U.S. Copyright Office and was licensed under the GPL.
Jan 31, 2006 View in Crawl 4
ionix18Feb 1, 2006
He is just whining. GPL has no legal ground for the publisher but it acts as a protection for the user. This indeed is a proof for the user that they have a right to use the software. Now technically Sony is breaking the law by not publishing the source code of the derivative work made from it. Sony is not breaking the law by using it in a commercial manner and for gain. The copyright indeed protects DVD John but considering this software is given away for free, it doesn't apply here. It's not a copyright matter but a license issue. Now how legal is the GPL? No one knows because it has never been challenged. It is as legal as the EULA you see in software that prevent you from doing a dis assembly of the bin and whatnot. I have been on digg for a while and I have seen this claim over and over on digg:The EULA have no power in court because you did not have the chance to negotiate etc...Well the GPL license is just that. You can't have both the enforceable GPL and the unenforceable EULA. Oh and by the way, the GPL is an EULA...To resume quickly, The issue here is not about copyright because you can't claim damage over something that you gave for free even if it has a license on it. Sounds weird but Microsoft could not sue you for copyright infringement if you put windows Vista on p2p networks. But they can sue for NDA and LICENSE breach.There is a license violation here and damage could be awarded but should a favourable judgment be made for GPL, it would create prejudice to all the EULA out there and I am not looking forward to it.
xepoFeb 1, 2006
"Well the GPL license is just that. You can't have both the enforceable GPL and the unenforceable EULA. Oh and by the way, the GPL is an EULA..."There is a couple of major differences between the GPL and the EULAs. Before you purchase or download software under the GPL, it's extremely rare that you're not notified that it's covered under the GPL. When I go to best buy and buy some software, almost all of them have EULAs, but I don't get to agree to it until *after* I've purchased the software.There's another reason that the GPL differs. The GPL doesn't limit your rights, it expands them. If you don't agree to the GPL, then you're not allowed to distribute the software, but you're still free to use it. The GPL is not an EULA (in the normal sense, at least), because EULAs put limits on what you can do with something you've purchased without notifying you before you purchased it, GPL only puts limits on the software if you choose to distribute it. (Note, that it is *legal* according to the license to modify GPL code, deciding not to give away the code with the binaries, as long as you don't distribute it.)
zetsurinFeb 1, 2006
I can't believe people are having hundred line discussions in here. Get a life!"They should've known better than to piss off DVD Jon."So what?! He's already been circumventing encyption schemes and whatnot. Big f**king deal, the geek is pissed of now, woohoo. I'd be more scared if I pissed off someone who had muscles.
Closed AccountFeb 1, 2006
"The GPL has never been tested in any court anywhere in the world, so there is a degree of risk."GPL was upheld in Germany<a class="user" href="http://www.boingboing.net/2004/09/04/gpl_court_challenge_.html">http://www.boingboing.net/2004/09/04/gpl_court_challenge_.html</a>
mrbroFeb 1, 2006
suits him well
hottysonFeb 1, 2006
DVD John is a hero. I digg stories about him.DUGG!
dostroyerJun 7, 2008
hilarious, he had it coming.<a class="user" href="http://www.anadolujet.gen.tr">http://www.anadolujet.gen.tr</a><a class="user" href="http://2008sbs.blogspot.com">http://2008sbs.blogspot.com</a>
coldplaymusicMar 19, 2009
Taking this problem to the court. Hire a lawyer. You could sue them and win. <a class="user" href="http://coldplaymusic.co.cc" rel="nofollow">http://coldplaymusic.co.cc</a>