Arnoud Galactus Engelfriet writes:
The GPL is based on US copyright, and so (like US copyright law) pretty much ignores moral rights and the Berne Convention except where convenient.
The GNU GPL was written with the Berne convention in mind. Focusing on US law only would have defeated its international applicability. It does not talk about moral rights because there is no need to.
Cheers,
Loic Dachary wrote:
Arnoud Galactus Engelfriet writes:
The GPL is based on US copyright, and so (like US copyright law) pretty much ignores moral rights and the Berne Convention except where convenient.
The GNU GPL was written with the Berne convention in mind.
Well, the GPL uses for example the notion of "derivative work", which is something that the Berne Convention does not recognize. Article 12 of the Berne Convention only speaks of "adaptations, arrangements and other alterations of their works."
Focusing on US law only would have defeated its international applicability. It does not talk about moral rights because there is no need to.
This I agree with.
Regards,
Arnoud
On Mon, Jun 24, 2002 at 12:25:47PM +0200, Loic Dachary wrote:
Arnoud Galactus Engelfriet writes:
The GPL is based on US copyright, and so (like US copyright law) pretty much ignores moral rights and the Berne Convention except where convenient.
The GNU GPL was written with the Berne convention in mind. Focusing on US law only would have defeated its international applicability. It does not talk about moral rights because there is no need to.
Thanks to everyone who has replied to my question. I haven't had the time to read mr. Jaeger his paper (due to exams), but after reading the thread can I say: when using the GPL you can still benefit from the moral laws (appealing in your country)?
Thus so it overrules the GPL? E.g I write the code for a webforum, then I can take action against a rascist website using my forum?
Thanks in advance,
Rudy Gevaert wrote:
On Mon, Jun 24, 2002 at 12:25:47PM +0200, Loic Dachary wrote:
Focusing on US law only would have defeated its international applicability. It does not talk about moral rights because there is no need to.
Thanks to everyone who has replied to my question. I haven't had the time to read mr. Jaeger his paper (due to exams), but after reading the thread can I say: when using the GPL you can still benefit from the moral laws (appealing in your country)?
Yes, assuming your country's laws recognize moral rights in software. It is forbidden to require someone to give up his moral rights in the Netherlands and Belgium, at least the right to object to modifications that hurt your reputation as a coder.
Thus so it overrules the GPL? E.g I write the code for a webforum, then I can take action against a rascist website using my forum?
No, you can't force them to stop using the webforum. You can stop them from advertising your webforum software as being written by a white supremacist coder, or from adding routines that automatically add racist remarks to what people say.
The standard is whether your reputation as author would be hurt or damaged by the actions the third party took. The fact that they're using your software doesn't generally hurt your reputation. Bundling your picture browsing software with a collection of Nazi propaganda pictures might.
Regards,
Arnoud
On Tue, Jun 25, 2002 at 03:59:04PM +0200, Arnoud Galactus Engelfriet wrote:
Rudy Gevaert wrote:
On Mon, Jun 24, 2002 at 12:25:47PM +0200, Loic Dachary wrote:
Focusing on US law only would have defeated its international applicability. It does not talk about moral rights because there is no need to.
Thanks to everyone who has replied to my question. I haven't had the time to read mr. Jaeger his paper (due to exams), but after reading the thread can I say: when using the GPL you can still benefit from the moral laws (appealing in your country)?
Yes, assuming your country's laws recognize moral rights in software. It is forbidden to require someone to give up his moral rights in the Netherlands and Belgium, at least the right to object to modifications that hurt your reputation as a coder.
(forgot group reply)
Yes indeed, only it seems that the GPL takes away the strength of the moral rights one has. Or not? As given in your example:
No, you can't force them to stop using the webforum. You can stop them from advertising your webforum software as being written by a white supremacist coder, or from adding routines that automatically add racist remarks to what people say.
The standard is whether your reputation as author would be hurt or damaged by the actions the third party took. The fact that they're using your software doesn't generally hurt your reputation. Bundling your picture browsing software with a collection of Nazi propaganda pictures might.
Thus as a conclusion you can only react to action taken against your reputation, but not in a code kind of way.
Thanks to everyone for their reactions.
I've got an exam about Industrial rights tomorrow :).
Rudy
On Tue, 25 Jun 2002, Rudy Gevaert wrote:
Thus so it overrules the GPL? E.g I write the code for a webforum, then I can take action against a rascist website using my forum?
Did you remember the 4 freedom of Free Software ? (I know you know it very well) So freedom is for everybody.
Your moral rights could be applied for things not related to the software under the GNU General Public License...
adulau