The Copyright Act preempts the GPL

[Alexander Terekhov]

John Cowan wrote:
[...]
> A tarball that contains works by various authors is a compilation 
> work; a compiled program made from that tarball is a derivative 
> work of the individual files of the tarball, ...

Why is it a derivative work? I could imagine "a computer" 
(interpreter) that can run "program tarballs". Why simple 
addition of an intermediate step (required to run the 
program) makes something a derivative work? Wouldn't that 
mean that I'll need your permission to use this or that 
compiler (in order to "prepare derivative work")? 

regards,
alexander.

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