[ Thanks to Kevin
Reichard for this link. ]
“This is the first day of an email dialogue with Richard
Stallman on the philosophy of copyright that will be published over
nine days on LinuxPlanet. This dialogue arose from comments that
RMS was kind enough to give me on a two-part article on software
licensing that appeared on LinuxProgramming recently.”
“[last section of the licensing article, Part I]:
> According to Richard Stallman the traditional rules
discussed
> above have the rights backwards, because they assume that
the
> natural rights belong to the author of a work instead of to
the
> public. So in his opinion, copyright law does not give rights,
but
> rather takes them away, in that the public no longer has the
right
> to copy, modify or distribute a work of another.
[Stallman]:
This is not my opinion–this is the fact. This is how the US
legal system considers the issue. Take a look at the Supreme Court
decision in the Bonito Boats case. To present this as merely my
opinion is to misrepresent the history of copyright. If you want to
help, please don’t score an “own goal.”