The Copyright Act preempts the GPL

[Lawrence E. Rosen]

Scott Peterson wrote:
> The rights provided under US copyright law are negative 
> rights (the right to exclude others), not positive rights 
> (the right to do something yourself).

I don't think so, Scott. At least that's not how the copyright act reads:

    "...The owner of copyright under this title has the
    exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the
    following...."

The patent law is exactly the opposite. 

   "...Every patent shall contain ... a grant to the patentee ...
   to exclude others from using or selling...."

/Larry Rosen

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