linux-kernel - Re: ndiswrapper and GPL-only symbols redux

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Date:	Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:00:31 +0100
From:	Michael Gerdau <mgerdau@...cali.de>
To:	Adrian Bunk <bunk@...nel.org>
Cc:	Lee Revell <rlrevell@...-job.com>,
	Chris Friesen <cfriesen@...tel.com>,
	Giridhar Pemmasani <pgiri@...oo.com>,
	Pavel Roskin <proski@....org>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Jon Masters <jonathan@...masters.org>,
	Rusty Russell <rusty@...tcorp.com.au>, rms@....org
Subject: Re: ndiswrapper and GPL-only symbols redux

> > > IANAL, and I would therefore ask a lawyer whether, and if yes under
> > > which circumstances, shipping a binary driver written for another OS
> > > dynamically linked into the Linux kernel would not be a criminal offense.
> > 
> > Please stop throwing around words like "criminal".  If this is in fact
> > illegal it would be a civil matter.
> 
> You are living in a country where copyright violations can't bring 
> people into jail?

AFAICS you are misunderstanding the words "criminal" and "civil matter".

AFAIK in german law the difference between the two is that "criminal"
offences are prosecuted by the government out of their own accord while
"civil matters" require someone else to sue.

Murder and robbery are criminal offences.

Assuming the above is correct then copyright violations definitely are
"civil matters" in germany regardless whether you could go into jail or not.

Best,
Michael
-- 
 Michael Gerdau       email: mgerdau@...cali.de
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