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On Fri, 2003-05-02 at 21:08, Rob Wultsch wrote:
> My interest in Linux is based purely on the idea that IP and copyrights=20
> are not the way the world should work. Are the ideals of the people on=20
> this list that Linux should focus on being the best server os in the=20
> world or should linux be a gateway for the world to know free software?
While I admire what you are getting at, you should know that free
software is totally based on copyrights. Basically, the only reason the
GPL has any power what so ever, is because of copyright law.
Copyright law isn't a bad thing. It basically says that if you created
the work, you get to choose how other people use it. The GPL is one of
those choices.
The problem in copyright law is when the length of time that copyrights
last is pushed out further and further. Ideally things should go into
the public domain at some time (which would be interesting, because then
it would seem that at some point the GPL becomes indefensible for
unmaintained projects...). Mostly this has been fought with books and
movies, where the publishers are interested in keeping rights on those
materials forever. There was a publisher in England that was claiming
copyright on Shakespeare (fortunately they lost in court).
--Ted
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