GNU bug report logs - #50446
Emacs FAQ entry "What is the real legal meaning of the GNU copyleft?" still relevant?

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Message #11 received at 50446 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
To: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
Cc: 50446 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Richard Stallman <rms <at> gnu.org>
Subject: Re: bug#50446: Emacs FAQ entry "What is the real legal meaning of the
 GNU copyleft?" still relevant?
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2021 18:20:00 +0200

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org> writes:

> > Is the below entry in the Emacs FAQ still relevant?  These days, we
> > have had several copyright infringement case involving the GPL.  Could
> > we just delete the entry in the FAQ?
>
> Hm...  I just skimmed
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_license_litigation
>
> and I didn't see any judgements on GPL'd software?  Just settlements
> (and judgements on other licenses, like the Artistic License).

Take a look at this list, for example "Welte vs D-Link (2006)":

https://wiki.fsfe.org/Migrated/GPL Enforcement Cases

IANAL, YMMV, etc. but some of these look like court cases to me?

If we are to put anything, I think it's better to have an entry "What
is Free Software" or something of the sort, rather than defending
whether or not the GPL is even legally valid.  I don't think anyone
doubts that it is mostly valid these days, do they?  It's not a very
FAQ in my experience at least, but I might be wrong.

Of course, the US legal system is a sick joke so what do I know.

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