[License-review] License compatibility for FOSS aggregations

[Lawrence Rosen]

Hi John,

I understood the Latin, but it didn't change my mind. It just seemed
antiquated.

All these hypotheticals posted here leave out perhaps half the cases.
Suppose, for sake of argument, that the BSD code was written before the GPL
code. In that case, it is legally and logically impossible for the BSD code
to be a derivative of the GPL code. 

So those of you who interpret the GPL to have effects through linking better
check the dates of creation of all the works you include in your GPL
programs. :-)

For example, John, you omitted a key fact when you analyzed my Riddle #6. I
said that "Alice's original proprietary program was written and Alice's 
copyright registered on it the year Linus Torvalds was born." Linus is
supremely talented but I'm confident he can't go back in time and claim
rights over those very early works.

/Larry


-----Original Message-----
From: John Cowan [mailto:cowan at mercury.ccil.org] 
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2014 6:59 AM
To: lrosen at rosenlaw.com; License submissions for OSI review
Subject: Re: [License-review] License compatibility for FOSS aggregations

Lawrence Rosen scripsit:

> Are you suggesting that there's a good reason for FOSS projects to 
> prevent me, because of some Latin phrase obscure to all but those of 
> the Catholic faith, from reusing their free content?

Say what?  _Communis opinio_ is one of the canons of statutory
interpretation.
It goes back to Coke's Institutes, and has been mentioned in recent Supreme
Court cases.  Admittedly Scalia doesn't like it, but Stevens did.

> Point me to the clause in the OSD or their license that authorizes that.

OSD #3 says that it must be possible to distribute derivative works under
the same license as the original.  It does not say that it must be possible
to distribute them under any license whatsoever.

> I'm Jewish,

Nu, go ask a posek what weight the common opinion of the sages has.

> Unless you are speaking about my infringing their work in some way, in 
> which case I will bow to the courts on that.

Well, that's the issue.  All prohibitions in FOSS licenses are backed up by
the threat of infringement lawsuits.

-- 
John Cowan          http://www.ccil.org/~cowan        cowan at ccil.org
Knowledge studies others / Wisdom is self-known; Muscle masters brothers /
Self-mastery is bone; Content need never borrow / Ambition wanders blind;
Vitality cleaves to the marrow / Leaving death behind.    --Tao 33 (Bynner)