The Copyright Act preempts the GPL

[Peter Fairbrother]

Alan writes an original computer program. It is 3 lines long. It is called
"Hello world".

Bob takes Alan's program and replaces line 2. The new program is called
"Goodbye asshole".

"Goodbye asshole" is a derivative work.

If Bob did not have Alan's permission to create a derivative work then he
gets no rights at all.

If Bob had Alan's permission to create a derivative work then he gets the
sole right to distribute line 2.

He does not get any right to distribute lines 1 and 3. He cannot distribute
"Goodbye asshole" including lines 1 and 3 without separate permission from
Alan.

-- 
Peter Fairbrother

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