"Licensed" codecs

[Pavel Rosenboim]

Sam Steingold wrote:

>>* Pavel Rosenboim <cnirye at pberfzn.pbz> [2003-09-23 20:09:56 +0300]:
>>
>>Alan Cox wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>>Consult a lawyer. The definition of 'derivative' is complicated to
>>>>>say the least.  For actual GPL code the GPL itself deliberately
>>>>>takes a "free nor not at all" approach.
>>>>
>>>>There exist non-GPLd kernel modules, though (NVIDIA drivers,etc...).
>>>>Do you want to say that they are illegal?
> 
> 
> the _modules_ are of course legal (as in "you can write and use them
> yourself"), but you cannot _distribute_ them without the sources,
> at least according to the way FSF interprets GPL.

Well, NVIDIA distributes its modules without sources, and so do other
companies.

> 
> If the copyright holders of the Linux kernel think differently (and, but
> all means, it is their right!), they might consider adding a clause
> which clarifies what they mean, like the CLISP maintainers did in their
> COPYRIGHT file [1].
> 
>