From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: David Kastrup Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: May I publish a Windows Installer for GNU Emacs? Date: 18 Sep 2003 15:05:09 +0200 Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: References: <3097.1063392768@mixed> <87ad96sldl.fsf@tleepslib.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp> <87u17di5oz.fsf@tleepslib.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp> <87u17bfwu0.fsf@tleepslib.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp> NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1063890703 10829 80.91.224.253 (18 Sep 2003 13:11:43 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 13:11:43 +0000 (UTC) Cc: stephen@xemacs.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Thu Sep 18 15:11:41 2003 Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 19zyZR-0005qq-00 for ; Thu, 18 Sep 2003 15:11:41 +0200 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 19zydR-0006Nt-00 for ; Thu, 18 Sep 2003 15:15:49 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.22) id 19zyVJ-0008Oi-MC for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Thu, 18 Sep 2003 09:07:25 -0400 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.22) id 19zyTH-00081a-MR for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 18 Sep 2003 09:05:19 -0400 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.22) id 19zyTF-00081D-IX for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 18 Sep 2003 09:05:18 -0400 Original-Received: from [62.226.11.177] (helo=localhost.localdomain) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (TLSv1:DES-CBC3-SHA:168) (Exim 4.22) id 19zyTC-0007zn-2m; Thu, 18 Sep 2003 09:05:14 -0400 Original-Received: from localhost.localdomain (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by localhost.localdomain (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id h8ID5AiB002519 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Thu, 18 Sep 2003 15:05:11 +0200 Original-Received: (from dak@localhost) by localhost.localdomain (8.12.8/8.12.8/Submit) id h8ID59tL002515; Thu, 18 Sep 2003 15:05:09 +0200 Original-To: rms@gnu.org In-Reply-To: Original-Lines: 30 User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.3.50 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2 Precedence: list List-Id: Emacs development discussions. List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:16460 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:16460 Richard Stallman writes: > > Under copyright law, you are free to run this copy of GNU Emacs. > > Actually, not even that is true. If I steal some Linux CD's > including only free software, I don't acquire the right to run the > software. > > If they are truly Linux CDs, you could not run them anyway, since a > kernel alone won't run. But if they were CDs of a released version of > GNU/Linux, then you could run them. > > I discussed this issue with our lawyer, and we concluded that if > there was no trade secret in the code you stole, you do have the GPL > rights in using it. Sure? It is not copyright that is relevant here, it is the usual criminal code. Copyright tells you about your rights when you have acquired a copy of something, but theft is not a legal acquisition. You are not permitted to make use of stolen goods. You could not sue for breach of copyright but for employment of stolen goods, and the party that could sue is not the copyright holder, but rather the legal owner of the copy. But I don't see how the recipient of a theft would gain license rights unless being granted those after the fact from the copyright holder. There was no transaction putting him into legal possession of a copy. -- David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum