Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Thu 14th Aug 2008 19:00 UTC, submitted by Moulinneuf
A federal appeals court has overruled a lower court ruling that, if sustained, would have severely hampered the enforceability of free software licenses. The lower court had found that redistributing software in violation of the terms of a free software license could constitute a breach of contract, but was not copyright infringement. The difference matters because copyright law affords much stronger remedies against infringement than does contract law. If allowed to stand, the decision could have neutered popular copyleft licenses such as the GPL and Creative Commons licenses. The district court decision was overturned on Wednesday by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
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RE[2]: So you can now issue DMCA takedown notices if...
by orestes on Fri 15th Aug 2008 04:25
in reply to "RE: So you can now issue DMCA takedown notices if..."
Member since:2005-07-06
Precisely. The only two cases where normal copyright protections wouldn't apply are the creator explicitly putting their work into the public domain or a sufficient period of time passing (just short of hell freezing if folks like Disney get their way) sufficient for the copyright to expire
Member since:
2006-04-10
Not quite. The only thing that gives them the right to copy your work is the license you have put it under. Any copying other than that granted by the license (or fair use) is copyright infringement.
Just because you do not expect monetary compensation, that does not remove your right to copyright protection.