Edmund GRIMLEY EVANS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Thomas Bushnell, BSG <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > Linking is not necessarily copyright violation, but if combined with > > certain other acts, the whole thing, including all its parts, are an > > instance of illegal copying. The total combination would indeed have > > to be an act of copying, but it's quite irrelevant whether each and > > every piece is. > > Unless you come up with a relevant example, this is going to look more > like tedious niggling than a useful contribution to any discussion.
We have a case here of a work composed of two parts: A) a gpl'd library B) a main program with a gpl-incompatible license The combined act of distributing A and B, with the intention to combine them into A+B is the combined case. Distributing A alone is not illegal. Distributing B alone is not illegal. Distributing A+B is illegal. And it's illegal no matter how many people divide up the work, as long as what they are doing is intending to distribute A+B. You have to look at the *total situation* and not just ask "is linking a copyright violation"? The case we were talking about *is* a relevant example.
