Re: [cobalt-users] Cobalt and the GPL.

["Charles Williams \( CEO ACNS \)" <cwilliams@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sorry for the top post.

CORRECT!

Chuck
ceo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
flames will be sent to the trash.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dom Latter" <d.latter@xxxxxxx>
To: <cobalt-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2001 7:05 PM
Subject: [cobalt-users] Cobalt and the GPL.


> I had a rant going when my lovely NT box BSOD'd on me.
> Try again.  Somebody had posted the details of the Cobalt 
> license.  In short:
> 
> 1. I am not a lawyer
> 2. Looks to me like Cobalt's claim that their software is 
> a "valuable trade secret" is bogus
> 3. IMHO they cannot stop people redistributing the restore CD
> 4. I am not a lawyer
> 
> Even if Cobalt's special sauce "can be reasonably considered 
> independent and separate works in themselves" they are still 
> "caught" by the last sentence in the quoted section. 
> 
> Or perhaps somebody at Cobalt can explain how their Linux 
> distro is legally different from everybody else's?
> 
> ><><><><><><><><><><> GPL quote <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
>   2. 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:
> 
>     a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices
>     stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
> 
>     b) 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.
> 
>     c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
>        <snip>
> 
> These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole.  If
> identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program,
> and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
> themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
> sections when you distribute them as separate works.  But when you
> distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based
> on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of
> this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the
> entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
> 
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