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Date:      Tue, 23 Feb 1999 14:09:23 -0500 (EST)
From:      "John S. Dyson" <dyson@iquest.net>
To:        marko@uk.radan.com (Mark Ovens)
Cc:        brett@lariat.org, dyson@iquest.net, freebsd-chat@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: The GPL and the Robinson-Patman Act
Message-ID:  <199902231909.OAA03734@y.dyson.net>
In-Reply-To: <36D2AF58.A2FB5E82@uk.radan.com> from Mark Ovens at "Feb 23, 99 01:38:32 pm"

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Mark Ovens said:
> 
> Surely the only way to enforce the terms of either the GPL or Berkeley
> licence is through the courts, but could any organization in the free
> software world actually afford such litigation (which I imagine would
> run into millions of dollars in the US)?
> 
> If FreeBSD Inc. were to take GPL'd code and add it to the source tree
> under a Berkeley-style licence what could the FSF do about it? The 2
> comments quoted above suggest that the FSF could possibly afford legal
> action against FreeBSD, but what if it was Sun, IBM, M$ etc. I can't
> believe that they could afford to take on a company of that size.
> 
> In other words does this not mean that the GPL etc. relies on other
> people being honourable and observing the terms of the licence even
> though they may not agree with those terms?
> 
One of the basis of my beliefs is to follow the licenses of others, in
meaning and legally.  I could not knowingly violate someone elses license
and be happy with myself.  In a sense, the GPL world is depending on
the honor of those who it is most destructive.

-- 
John                  | Never try to teach a pig to sing,
dyson@iquest.net      | it makes one look stupid
jdyson@nc.com         | and it irritates the pig.


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