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From: Uwe Brauer <oub@mat.ucm.es>
To: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
Cc: oub@mat.ucm.es, Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>, emacs-devel@gnu.org
Subject: Re: copyright issues and derivative work (the case of matlab-mode)
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2021 08:40:00 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <87bl2aovcf.fsf@mat.ucm.es> (raw)
In-Reply-To: E1mpjwd-00061g-22@fencepost.gnu.org

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>>> "RS" == Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

> [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
> [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
> [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

>> >     3. Patches, that contain more than 15 lines, which according to
>> >        https://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/html_node/Legally-Significant.html
>> >        is legally relevant. However the current HEAD (tip) state of the
>> >        repository contains less than 15 lines or even no line at all.
>> >        Now there are two possibilities.
>> > 
>> >        a. The orginal patch is no longer relevant, and therefore no action is needed.
>> >           That is what common sense would tell me.
>> > 
>> >        b. Although the code is not present now, it was present in some
>> >           commit in the past, therefore the rest of the commits is
>> >           derivative work.

> It isn't quite that simple and rigid.  The question that needs to be
> answered is: is a substantial part of the current code more or less a
> rewriting of the original patch?  If so, then that part is a
> derivative of the original patch.

> The FSF can can ask a lawyer about the specific case, if that's
> necessary.


Ok, I see. I am planning to do the following:
I will extract all patches sent to us in the last two decades and
compare it with the actual version and put in a directory for someone to
inspect. (I have to think about the details)

The case I had in mind was (that is anyhow very short but just to
emphasize my point)


,----
| diff --git a/elisp/matlab-emacs/matlab.el b/elisp/matlab-emacs/matlab.el
| index 63ce838..71b6ff0 100755
| --- a/elisp/matlab-emacs/matlab.el
| +++ b/elisp/matlab-emacs/matlab.el
| @@ -3731,6 +3731,6 @@ If ARG is nil, then highlighting is toggled."
|  			  post-command-hook)
|  		  -1 1)))
|      (if (> arg 0)
| -	(add-hook 'post-command-hook 'matlab-start-block-highlight-timer)
| -      (remove-hook 'post-command-hook 'matlab-start-block-highlight-timer))))
| +	(add-hook 'post-command-hook 'matlab-start-block-highlight-timer nil :local)
| +      (remove-hook 'post-command-hook 'matlab-start-block-highlight-timer :local))))
|  
`----

But we removed *all* calls to the post-command-hook in the current
matlab.el version and that is why I think, the current version is *not*
derivative work of this particular patch.

But as I said, there will be more complicated cases
 

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      reply	other threads:[~2021-11-24  7:40 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 35+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2021-11-23 16:25 copyright issues and derivative work (the case of matlab-mode) Uwe Brauer
2021-11-23 16:44 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-11-23 16:59   ` Uwe Brauer
2021-11-23 17:18     ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-11-23 17:45       ` Uwe Brauer
2021-11-23 18:17         ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-11-25  5:31           ` Richard Stallman
2021-11-25  7:59             ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-11-25  8:03               ` Uwe Brauer
2021-11-25  8:05                 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-11-27  4:08                   ` Richard Stallman
2021-11-27  6:19                     ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-11-28  4:24                       ` Richard Stallman
2021-11-28  8:09                         ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-11-29  3:02                           ` Richard Stallman
2021-11-29  3:32                             ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-11-30  4:10                               ` Richard Stallman
2021-11-30 16:45                                 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-12-01  7:05                                   ` Richard Stallman
2021-11-25  8:14               ` Po Lu
2021-11-25  8:33                 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-11-25  9:19                   ` Uwe Brauer
2021-11-23 19:56         ` Stefan Monnier
2021-11-24  8:06           ` Uwe Brauer
2021-11-23 20:00         ` Stefan Monnier
2021-11-24  8:00           ` Uwe Brauer
2021-11-24 13:30             ` Stefan Monnier
2021-11-24  4:28         ` Richard Stallman
2021-11-24  7:42           ` Uwe Brauer
2021-11-27  3:24             ` Eric Ludlam
2021-11-28  4:20               ` Richard Stallman
2021-11-28  9:16               ` Uwe Brauer
2021-11-23 20:00     ` Tassilo Horn
2021-11-24  4:31   ` Richard Stallman
2021-11-24  7:40     ` Uwe Brauer [this message]

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