Big development in the GUI realm

[Robert Kern]

Francis Girard wrote:
[I wrote:]
>>In any case, he may be right, and the FSF, Trolltech, and you could all
>>be wrong. Your intention when you use the GPL may be moot if a judge
>>determines that the text itself and copyright law does not support your
>>interpretation.
> 
> 
> I'm sorry to jump into this thread without any knowledge of these issues. I 
> was just wondering if it did happen. Did some law court, over the past 
> decade, had to make a decision about GPL on some real issue ? 

Not about this issue, I don't believe. There was some flap between MySQL 
AB and NuSphere Corporation concerning *static* linking, but that case 
was settled before the judge ruled on whether static linking creates a 
derivative work[1].

Larry Rosen's book _Open Source Licensing_ covers these issues (and 
their lack of case law) pretty thoroughly[2].

[1] http://www.mysql.com/news-and-events/press-release/release_2002_14.html
[2] http://www.rosenlaw.com/oslbook.htm

-- 
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
  Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
   -- Richard Harter