Copyright and License

[Bernhard Reiter]

In article <391a14f7$0$28399 at wodc7nh1.news.uu.net>,
	gmcm at hypernet.com (Gordon McMillan) writes:
> Bernhard Reiter <breiter at usf.Uni-Osnabrueck.DE> wrote:
> 
>>Tim, you are correct, something in the publich domain stays in the
>>public domain, and you can still go on and reimplement what other
>>added to your software. But you have no saying over what they  do
>>with it.
> 
> At least where I come from, "free" and "control" are 
> antithetical notions.

How are you securing free speech in a democracy?
You need measures for this, like laws and so on.

So freedom is always limited and needs to be secured.
Some Conditions have to be controlled for this to work.

>>This sentences are flawed. If you do not use a strong Free Software
>>license other Companies might lock up your code and make  money from 
>>your work. 

> Horrors!
If you like, fine.  A lot of people do not.

>>They might even gain a monopoly and you do not have a word 
>>to say about it.  
> 
> If they do that, then I guess you're not capable of producing 
> a functional equivalent. So it's safe to say that your code is
> an incidental part of their product.

True, so what? If they are legal to use it this way, you might not be legal
to use the combined product.

And you might be able to produce a functional equivalent, but other
things will keep it from being actual identical in use. 

	Bernhard
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