Re: Copyright Misuse Doctrine in Apple v. Psystar

[Doug Mentohl]

flattie amicus Rjack wrote:

> This is the central flaw of the GPL license. It attempts to secure the exclusive rights of a 
> modifying author who accepts GPL code by attempting to force them to license their modifications 
> "to all third parties" under terms of the GPL. A "viral" public copyright 
> license is the very definition of copyright misuse.

What you are engaged in here is a tautological inexactitude. A license 
can't be simultaneously exclusive or applicable 'to all'. And nowhere in 
the GPL does the author rescind his copyright. In fact removal of the 
copyright notice is a violation of the GPL ..

"the FSF decided long ago to allow developers to use GCC's libraries to 
compile any program, regardless of its license"

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gcc-exception-faq.html

"Developers that use the GNU GPL protect your rights with two steps: (1) 
assert copyright on the software, and (2) offer you this License giving 
you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify it"

http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html