Comments on: Beware of moral rights loopholes http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/05/32/ Sat, 19 May 2012 00:04:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Niklas Vainio http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/05/32/comment-page-1/#comment-1289 Niklas Vainio Fri, 06 May 2005 06:05:17 +0000 http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/05/32/#comment-1289 If it is true that in some jurisdictions you cannot give planket licenses related to moral rights and we can see that GPL doesn't actually say anything about them, there's the danger that the Zynaddsubfx author might sue the author of the fictional Satanic Synthesizer if he thinks the changes made are "prejudicial to his honor or reputation" (<a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/6bis.html" rel="nofollow">Berne convention 6bis</a>). I noticed this been <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=gpl+moral+rights&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8" rel="nofollow">discussed</a> before. For instance, <a href="http://linuxinsider.com/story/35358.html" rel="nofollow">this article</a> discusses moral rights in German legislation and <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/fsfe-france-gpl/2002-06/msg00007.html" rel="nofollow">this</a> claims that moral rights in software are limited to the right of being recognized as the author. According to <a href="http://www.serverwatch.com/eur/article.php/3443081" rel="nofollow">this article</a>, the moral rights issue will be taken into account in the version 3 of the GPL. If it is true that in some jurisdictions you cannot give planket licenses related to moral rights and we can see that GPL doesn’t actually say anything about them, there’s the danger that the Zynaddsubfx author might sue the author of the fictional Satanic Synthesizer if he thinks the changes made are “prejudicial to his honor or reputation” (Berne convention 6bis).

I noticed this been discussed before. For instance, this article discusses moral rights in German legislation and this claims that moral rights in software are limited to the right of being recognized as the author. According to this article, the moral rights issue will be taken into account in the version 3 of the GPL.

]]> By: grex http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/05/32/comment-page-1/#comment-1286 grex Thu, 05 May 2005 10:12:45 +0000 http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/05/32/#comment-1286 With my limited knowledge on legal things, I assume that if the author of Zynaddsubfx imposes a new restriction then it's not free software anymore. I don't know if a wish is a new restriction, but I guess not. Hence I don't see a loophole there. OTOH I don't think it's the ideological background that has made Stallmand and Lessig have different strategies regarding the localization of the licenses. I'm sure Stallman could use communitarian/anarchist arguments in the case of CC and Lessig more constitutionalist ones for the GPL. What I mean is that probably the point of view is different, but that actually the way the CC licenses and the free software licenses are written down make both views possible and even complemetary. We have another time the wish-strategy here: Stallman maybe wishes a different type of hierarchy in society but the actual facts (the licenses) do not impose that with the legal text of the licenses. In any case, this is an interesting (and maybe never-ending) debate ;-) With my limited knowledge on legal things, I assume that if the author of Zynaddsubfx imposes a new restriction then it’s not free software anymore. I don’t know if a wish is a new restriction, but I guess not. Hence I don’t see a loophole there.

OTOH I don’t think it’s the ideological background that has made Stallmand and Lessig have different strategies regarding the localization of the licenses. I’m sure Stallman could use communitarian/anarchist arguments in the case of CC and Lessig more constitutionalist ones for the GPL. What I mean is that probably the point of view is different, but that actually the way the CC licenses and the free software licenses are written down make both views possible and even complemetary. We have another time the wish-strategy here: Stallman maybe wishes a different type of hierarchy in society but the actual facts (the licenses) do not impose that with the legal text of the licenses.

In any case, this is an interesting (and maybe never-ending) debate ;-)

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