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Linus Corrects Darl on Copyright Law

cybermancer writes "ITWorld.com has a rebuttal by Linus Torvalds to Darl McBride's latest FUD on copyrights and Open Source. In a nutshell Darl states "SCO asserts that the GPL, under which Linux is distributed, violates the United States Constitution and the U.S. copyright and patent laws" and Linus points out that "the notion that the GPL has, of "exchange of receipt of copyrighted works," is actually explicitly encoded in U.S. copyright law". With Linus of course providing a link allowing the reader to see the law for themselves."

42 of 606 comments (clear)

  1. Quoth Linus by Pingular · · Score: 5, Funny

    "They are smoking crack."

    --

    When anger rises, think of the consequences.
    Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
    1. Re:Quoth Linus by tds67 · · Score: 5, Funny
      "They are smoking crack."

      Sure enough, the legal code Linus refers to is:

      The term ''financial gain'' includes receipt, or expectation of receipt, of anything of value such as crack, or including the receipt of other copyrighted works in lieu of crack.
  2. SCO, FUD, GPL, US... by ViolentGreen · · Score: 4, Funny

    Acronyms, Acronyms, Acronyms.... What do they all mean??????????????

    --
    Not everything is analogous to cars. Car analogies rarely work.
    1. Re:SCO, FUD, GPL, US... by Frymaster · · Score: 5, Funny
      well, judging from mr. torvalds expertese in copyright issues IANAL now stands for "i am not a linus torvalds"

      or something like that.

    2. Re:SCO, FUD, GPL, US... by KoolDude · · Score: 4, Funny


      Following the lines of GNU...

      SCO - SCO Charges Others
      FUD - FUD is Uttered by Darl
      GPL - GPL Protects Linus
      US - US Sucks

      Don't mention it :)

      --
      getSexySig(); /* returns sexy signature */
    3. Re:SCO, FUD, GPL, US... by smittyoneeach · · Score: 3, Funny

      SCO: Santa Cruz Operation (Based in Utah)
      No, man--Santa Cruz is in California. I guess their non-command of things like source code and licenses matches their non-command of geography.
      God bless the American school system.

      --
      Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
    4. Re:SCO, FUD, GPL, US... by Doug+Neal · · Score: 2, Funny

      ermm... disillusionalized?

      WTF?!
      Is that you Bush?

    5. Re:SCO, FUD, GPL, US... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      Scientology, Church Of.

      The religion for insane copyright attack weasels.

    6. Re:SCO, FUD, GPL, US... by zonix · · Score: 4, Funny

      Actually SCO and FUD are deprecated. Please use the composite form: SCUD.

      z
      --
      What would an EWOULDBLOCK block, if an EWOULDBLOCK could block would? -- me
    7. Re:SCO, FUD, GPL, US... by vsprintf · · Score: 4, Funny

      Seriously, even the village idiot seems to have more brains than the collective consciousness of SCO on legal/intellectual matters.

      I know it's not a criminal trial, but if SCO gets a jury of its peers, we could be in real trouble.

  3. GPL is no hippie dream? by burgburgburg · · Score: 1, Funny
    Then I'm going back to sleep.

    After getting some ice cream, and fritos. And pretzels.

  4. Re:Excellent.. by IWorkForMorons · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is Darl going to try and rebutt Linus' statement in the next letter, or is he going to go spread more FUD?

    Uh, isn't that the same thing?

  5. Re:Excellent.. by revividus · · Score: 1, Funny
    Is Darl going to try and rebutt Linus' statement in the next letter, or is he going to go spread more FUD?

    Is that really two different things?

  6. Another great linus quote by pbug · · Score: 5, Funny

    Talking in reference of GPL.
    "It's not just a crazy idea that some lefty Commie hippie dreamed up in a drug-induced stupor."
    I just love how Linus say what is on his mind.

    1. Re:Another great linus quote by maharg · · Score: 5, Funny

      although that is in fact *exactly* what happened, it just happens to not be a crazy idea ;o)

      --

      $ strings FTP.EXE | grep Copyright
      @(#) Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
  7. Darl's Reply.... by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · · Score: 5, Funny

    Uhhhh... *points behind Linus* What the hell's that!
    *While Linus is distracted, Darl jumps into a giant Bob's Big Boy statue, launches himself into orbit and freezes himself for 30 years*

    1. Re:Darl's Reply.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Then he's back, and sues IBM again, this time claiming three hundred... TRILLION dollars in damages.

    2. Re:Darl's Reply.... by Pelorat · · Score: 4, Funny

      "I specifically asked for lawyers with frickin laser beams on their frickin heads. Throw me a check here, people"

  8. Re:Excellent.. by GreyWolf3000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    You mean, is Darl's PR team going to throw out another factless diatribe about how the GPL destroys financial incentives to innovate, and thusly violate the spirit of copyright law, or are they going to throw out another factless diatribe about how Open Source destroys financial incentives to innovate, and thusly violate the spirit of copyright law...

    --
    Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
  9. Anyone else see the irony. . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    of a programmer from Norway having a better understanding of U.S. law than a CEO from Utah? Hahahahahah

    It's like when 20/20 or 60 minutes does a special on how kids from China know US Geography or History better than US students.

  10. Linus Hits Below the Belt by 4of12 · · Score: 3, Funny

    With Linus of course providing a link allowing the reader to see the law for themselves.

    That's low.

    Darl would have provided a URL to SCO's business model - you know, the one based on RAMBUS -- but he quickly realized that such a business method was likely to already be patented.

    --
    "Provided by the management for your protection."
  11. Re:never argue with an idiot by neongenesis · · Score: 5, Funny

    Never wrestle with a Pig.

    You both get dirty...

    and the Pig likes it!

  12. Linus' reply reminds me of... by paiute · · Score: 5, Funny

    Otter: Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules or took a few liberties with our female party guests -- we did. But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the actions of a few sick, perverted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you ... isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do what you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America!

    Hold the broken rules, substitute profits for females, open source community for fraternity, and Darl for Dean Wormer.

    --
    If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
  13. Re:Linus is being very nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    and God forbid Steve-o should drag buddy Larry Ellison into the fray. At last a real use for that real fighter jet Larry keeps as a toy.

  14. Re:Linus is guilty of the same sin as Darl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny


    Inconceivable!

  15. re: stallman by ignorant_newbie · · Score: 2, Funny

    >It's not just a crazy idea that some lefty
    >Commie hippie dreamed up in a drug-induced stupor.

    So, Linus... why don't you tell us what you really think of RMS?

  16. Re:January by geekoid · · Score: 3, Funny

    "...I'm all for ignoring SCO's public spewage."

    apparently not.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  17. Re:OK, but the fact is copyrights are still wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    Maybe your book would be finished already if you stopped spending all your time on /. ...

    (It's funny, laugh! I'm joking. I hope you make it)

  18. Re:Linus is being very nice by sharkey · · Score: 4, Funny
    If you think this is fun, maybe SCO will go after Apple/Jobs. I'm sure Steve would hold his tongue?

    Hopefully Jobs would not only hold it, but yank it right out of Darl's mouth.

    --

    --
    "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  19. Bandwidth by Shadwell · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do you think SCO is just keeping these lawsuits up to pay for the bandwidth of being Slashdotted four times a day?

  20. Re: stallman by RevMike · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's not just a crazy idea that some lefty Commie hippie dreamed up in a drug-induced stupor.

    So, Linus... why don't you tell us what you really think of RMS?

    Good point! Note that Linus didn't say "It's not a crazy idea that some lefty Commie hippie dreamed up in a drug-induced stupor." The word "just" implies that it is indeed "a crazy idea that some lefty Commie hippie dreamed up in a drug-induced stupor" but that there is more to it.

  21. IQ of a group by TWX · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you want to find the collective IQ of an assembled group, you take the IQ of the lowest person in the group and you divide it by the number of people in the group.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  22. Re:OK, but the fact is copyrights are still wrong by Sexy+Bern · · Score: 2, Funny

    Been to Russia recently?

  23. Re:Laws Laws and more Laws by ls-lta · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can someone please translate the law into normal english speak?

    There is a reason we have lawyers and politicians...to prevent this very thing from happening.

  24. Re:never argue with an idiot by mks113 · · Score: 4, Funny

    How about: "Never fight a battle of wits with an unarmed man."

  25. Another Turd in the Stall Part 2 by cswiii · · Score: 2, Funny

    We don't need no litigation
    We don't need no spin control
    No Darl McBride praise in the chatroom
    Pumpers, leave this stock alone!
    Hey! Pumpers! Leave this stock alone!
    All in all it's just another turd in the stall
    All in all you're just another turd in the stall

    We don't need no litigation
    We don't need no spin control
    No Darl McBride praise in the chatroom
    Pumpers, leave this stock alone!
    Hey! Pumpers! Leave this stock alone!
    All in all it's just another turd in the stall
    All in all you're just another turd in the stall

    "Wrong! Dump it again!"
    "If you can't beat the street, how can you have any earnings...
    How can you have any earnings, if you can't beat the street?"
    "You! Yes, you behind the bodyguards, stand still laddy!"

  26. Net Kook by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'd plonk everything from Darl and SCO, but like the kook he is, he'd just morph the name and keep posting. (Of wait, they already morphed to SCO. See!)

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  27. Re:Exactly! Mod Parent Up! by Peyna · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does anyone else find amusing that this person linked to US copyright code on a server based in the UK?

    While I'm sure that what you cite is probably accurate, may I suggest for the future: http://uscode.house.gov or www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/

    --
    What?
  28. OT: Re:SCO, FUD, GPL, US... by MoFoQ · · Score: 2, Funny

    that is classifiedized.

  29. Re:never argue with an idiot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I thought it was:
    "Arguing on the internet is like competing in the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded."

  30. Darl sounds like Dennis Denuto by ipso_facto · · Score: 2, Funny

    Your honour, 'It's the constitution... it's Mabo ...it's the vibe'

  31. Can't resist... "Hey SCO" by Ricin · · Score: 2, Funny
    Now that I've finished the code, err, lyrics, just this once I won't repost but keep the .sig for a while... Enjoy.

    HEY SCO

    Hey SCO, it's time to go.
    Take your sad code and make it better
    Remember you knew it all from the start
    Now you can start to make it better

    Hey SCO, don't be dismayed
    Scams are made to crumble and shatter
    The minute you let the GPL in
    It would begin to make things better

    And anytime you feel the blame, hey SCO, relate
    To USL they still have the t-shirt
    For all we know your precious code is all a load
    Of BSD stuff any way

    Hey SCO, don't make me laugh. You have sent so so many letters
    Remember you knew it all from the start
    Now you can start to make it better

    So take your code and leave the spin, hey SCO begin
    You're waiting for someone to compete with?
    Well don't you know that it's just you, hey SCO, you'll do
    The movement you heed has many shoulders

    Hey SCO, don't die just yet
    Take your sad code and make it better
    Remember we knew it all from the start
    Now you can start to make it better

    Darl-la-la la-la-la-la Darl-la-la-la hey SCO

    -- "Hey Jude" (c) John Lennon & Paul McCartney
    -- This is satire
    -- IANAL but AFAIK and IIUC this specific parody can be considered to be in the public domain
    -- Hi Darl! And your brothers Darl, Kevin and Kevin! Hi!