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<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Guy,</span></font></div>
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<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt"> The chances of the GPL being declared
unconstitutional under US law is about as
close to zero as one can get.</span></font></div>
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<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt"> 5 Points:</span></font></div>
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<p><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">1) The Constitution does NOT require
Congress to have a patent law, it only give it
the power to create one if it so desires. </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt"> Article 1, Section 8 says "The Congress
shall have the power . . . </span></font><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt">To promote the
Progress of Science and useful Arts, by
securing for limited Times to Authors
and Inventors the exclusive Right to
their respective Writings and
Discoveries;</span></font></p>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">2) Congress can set the parameters of the
that law in any way that does not violate
other provisions of the Constitution. I can
see no provisions in the present Copyright
law that says only items written for profit are
protected (as a matter of fact, there are
many provisions that say just the opposite)</span></font></div>
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<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">3) The GPL is a contract freely entered into
by those that publish their works under it.
The provisions of the GPL are outlined in
publically available documents.</span></font></div>
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<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">4) If you choose to avail yourself of GPL-
licensed software, you MUST accept the
provisions of that contract. However, you are
not compelled to use GPL-licensed software
- you can always write your own that
performs the equiv. function.</span></font></div>
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<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">5) Given the 4 items above, I see no reason
why any court could claim that the GPL is at
conflict with the present Copyright laws of
the US.</span></font></div>
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<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Now let me add I am NOT a lawyer, but I
have spoken with my cousin, who IS an IP
attorney, and he agress with my line of
reasoning. SCO's problem with the GPL is
they believe that the profit motive should be
the ONLY "safe harbor" under which
software should be protected. Case law is
not on their side.</span></font></div>
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<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Bottom line: the whole SCO "thing" is a full-
face attempt at extortion, both of companies
like IBM and the user community. </span></font></div>
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<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">BTW, when is someone going to sue
Microslime for their numerous and on-going
violations of the GPL?</span></font></div>
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<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Regards,</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt"> Bill Bowen</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt"> Sacramento, CA</span></font></div>
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<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Date sent: Fri,
30 Apr 2004 15:01:48 -0600</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">From: Guy
Fraser <guy@incentre.net></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Organization: The Internet Centre</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">To: For
users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list@redhat.com></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Subject: Re:
SCO: GPL not unconstitutional</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Send reply to: For users of Fedora
Core releases <fedora-list@redhat.com></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt"> <mailto:fedora-list-request@redhat.com?subject=unsubscribe></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt"> <mailto:fedora-list-request@redhat.com?subject=subscribe></span></font></div>
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<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> *This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(tm) Pro*</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> jludwig wrote:</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> </i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> >On Fri, 2004-04-30 at 03:38, bulent wrote:</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> >Snip;</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> > </i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> ></i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> >>algat/ANKARA/TURKIYE</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> >></i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> >>There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> >>of law and in the name of justice.</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> >> </i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> >></i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> >Your quote sums it up nicely. I forgot, what Software monopoly is</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> >financially backing SCO ?? </i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> ></i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> They are now claiming {like Microsoft did} that GPL is not enforcable and is</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> un-American.</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> </i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> I don't know what rock they have been living under, but America is not the</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> whole world. And just because the GPL isnot a licence to rip people off does</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> not make it un-American {I hope}.</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> </i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> If SCO wins, on the basis that the GPL licence is un-American, the all the</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> American Linux Distros are affected, but what do Norweigens and the rest of</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> the work care because they are by definition not American, and in most cases</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> glad of that fact. America can keep SCO and Microsoft, the rst of us will</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> happily use Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD and other worthy operating systems.</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> </i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> Actualy it would be a good thing, the current anti-American sentiment around</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> the world would cause an increase in Linux use if it were to be deemed</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> un-American. Bill Gates and SCO can be as American as they want and if they</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> get what they want, that's all the market they may have.</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> </i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> </i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> </i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> -- </i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> fedora-list mailing list</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> fedora-list@redhat.com</i></span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000"><span style="font-size:10pt"><i>> To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list</i></span></font></div>
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