linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] USB: mark USB drivers as being GPL only

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Message-ID: <19390.1202334535@turing-police.cc.vt.edu>
Date:	Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:48:55 -0500
From:	Valdis.Kletnieks@...edu
To:	Christer Weinigel <christer@...nigel.se>
Cc:	Pekka Enberg <penberg@...helsinki.fi>,
	David Newall <davidn@...idnewall.com>,
	Marcel Holtmann <marcel@...tmann.org>,
	Greg KH <greg@...ah.com>, linux-usb@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] USB: mark USB drivers as being GPL only

On Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:12:54 +0100, Christer Weinigel said:

> If I use an in kernel API, but from a piece of code which is external
> to the kernel, is that really a derived work? If you say it is, do you
> realise that you are advocating something which is very close to an API
> copyright, something which I think most open source people are very
> adverse to.

And in fact, at least in the US, current case law states that when there's
only one practical way to write something (which is the case in an API, you
either code it the way the API says or you don't get a correctly functioning
program), it's not copyrightable.

See "scenes a faire" in http://www.copyright-laws.com/pgs/protect-rights.html

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