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Re: [LUG] Ubuntu and Dell could be illegal in the US

 

On Sat, 05 May 2007 12:40:11 +0100
Julian Hall <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I've only recently covered this in university.  Software is covered
> under the Supply of Goods and Services Act, not the Sale of Goods
> Act. Software is not deemed to be a 'good' as it is the result of a
> service provided, that of writing the code.  IP is assigned to the
> software in one of three ways, Exclusive where IP is retained in
> entirety by the author, and the purchaser simply pays for a single
> license to use it, Non-exclusive where the user pays to be able to
> redistribute it, again under license

Non-exclusive also covers situations where the copyright holder
provides the software under a licence or as public domain software
without any purchase or exchange of monies. Naturally, that side of it
would not come under the above Acts, instead it comes under the
Copyright Act. Public domain requires that the copyright holder
renounces their assigned copyright in a public manner, at which point
the software is beyond legal constraint. There is no warranty, there is
no liability, there is no protection, restriction or limitation. Public
domain code is completely free - but that freedom is regularly abused
and therefore free software needs to use the protection of the
Copyright Act using a free software licence.

>, or Assignment where the whole
> IP rights to the software are sold.

Or given away without cost, e.g. public domain code.

> Obviously the latter is the most expensive.

Not true - as shown by public domain code.

--

Neil Williams
=============
http://www.data-freedom.org/
http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/
http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/

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