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[Werner Koch]

On Thu, 23 Aug 2001 11:28:39 +0200 (MET DST), Johan Wevers said:

>> The FSF does not publish these cases for good reasons.

> What are those good reasons if I may ask?

It is easier to talk to companies and convince them if you do not put
them in the pillory.

> Was this decided in court, or only a negotiated agreement? I'm a bit
> persistent in this matter because I have read a long discussion on a Dutch

They were asked and after some time they agreed to comply with the GPL.

> the GPL. For example, the legality of someone not being allowed to link a
> closed source program against a GPL library was very much disputed.

No court decisions so far.  However at least in Germany a court has
also to look at the intention of a contract if there are doubts on how
to interpret it.

> Well, if I lived in a country run by copyright extremists I probably would
> not do it so openly. But fortunately in The Netherlands I could safely put
> DeCSS on my site without anyone even complaining.

and may get arrested the next time you visit Iraq^H^H^H^Hthe U.S. 


-- 
Werner Koch        Omnis enim res, quae dando non deficit, dum habetur
g10 Code GmbH      et non datur, nondum habetur, quomodo habenda est.
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