gpl backlash?

Forrest J. Cavalier III mibsoft at mibsoftware.com
Wed Jul 28 12:23:21 UTC 1999


Maybe this analogy is somewhat relevant for discussion, if
only to discern nuances of copyright law....

From:          bruce at perens.com
> Let's get back to the frame metaphor. When I put a frame in my web page
> that displays one of your web pages, I never copy your web page. The
> frame is an instruction to the end-user's web browser to load your page
> and format it with my page around it. My page is full of my own ads and
> surrounds your page. Existing copyright law says _nothing_ that would
> prevent me from doing this.
> 

A horrible practice indeed.  But copyright law protects the 
ability of authors to benefit from their work by preventing others
from UNFAIRLY benefiting from that work.  Copyright law certainly
does NOT, and was not intended to, prevent others from benefiting
at all.

So, what is unfair about framing AS LONG AS the parent frame or
the view shown to the end user does not misrepresent the
authorship of the content and does not otherwise detract from the
reputation of the framed site.  (Plagiarism and slander are
definitely unfair, unethical (and illegal) practices...)  Please
consider frames which don't do any of those (if any such frames
exist.)



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