[1717] in linux-announce channel archive
Violation of Licenses
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Alan Cox)
Sun Feb 11 00:52:28 1996
From: alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk (Alan Cox)
To: osfmail@osf.org, torvalds@cs.helsinki.fi, rms@prep.ai.mit.edu,
linux-announce@vger.rutgers.edu
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 22:32:24 +0000 (GMT)
Dear Sirs,
You issued the following copyright statement with respect to the Linux =
over
Mach project.
> Copyright =A9 1996 Open Software Foundation, Inc.
>=20
> All Rights Reserved
>=20
> Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
> documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, prov=
ided that
> the above copyright notice appears in all copies and that both the co=
pyright
> notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation.
This statement is incorrect. As one of the authors of the Linux kernel =
I
state specifically my right to be acknowledged as an author and copyrig=
ht
holder of parts of the Linux Kernel, under the Berne convention.
I further note that your requirement for notice in documentation violat=
es
the "further restrictions" clause in the Linux software license, althou=
gh
your right to add copyright notices stating your additional work and co=
pyright
subject to the GPL license within the source code is not in question.
I assume this is a careless blunder on the part of the OSF "department =
of
slapping on copyright messages". Please amend your copyright so that it=
only
makes your Copyright claim about your Mach microkernel not the Linux ke=
rnel
that sits above it and issue a correction on all lists you have made an=
=20
announcement failing to make this clear.
In the event you do not clarify your false claim and if it becomes appa=
rent
this is a deliberate misrepresentation not an error, I will take approp=
riate
action. However at this stage I see no reason to suppose this is more
than a mistake on your part. I look forward to hearing from you confirm=
ing
this is the case.
Yours,
Alan Cox
Linux Networking Project
Cc: Richard Stallman, Free Software Foundation
Linus Torvalds, Main Kernel Author
Linux Announce mailing list.
[Ps: Can I ask anyone who reading this is gleefully going to mailbomb t=
he
OSF in protest to behave in sensible civilised fashion. Linux and free
software can do without the small number of people who seem to think th=
at
is a good idea]
