Re: GPL V3 and Linux - Dead Copyright Holders

[Valdis . Kletnieks]

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 18:15:54 PST, David Schwartz said:

> 	Linus can't put additional restrictions on code he didn't write. If the
> authors licensed it under the GPL version 2 and "any later version", Linus
> can't re-release it under a more restrictive license

One thing to remember is that as a *practical* matter, there are *two* sets
of copyrights attached to the code (at least under US law).  Each contributor
has their rights to their code - Alan Cox has vast tracts of code, I have
a few dozen lines of bugfixes, and so on.

But equally important is the copyright that Linus has on the kernel as
a whole as a a compilation (see 17 USC 103).  As a practical matter, if you
don't like Linus's license for the compilation, you're stuck with small sections
under the fair use rules.  Similarly, Linus can't include anything under his
compilation unless the licenses are compatible...

Also, it means that even if you did manage to get all the copyright holders
for the code to agree to "GPL v2 or v3", Linus still holds the trump card on
the compilation.....

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