# LANGUAGE translation of https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/sco/questioning-sco.html # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc. # This file is distributed under the same license as the original article. # FIRST AUTHOR <EMAIL@ADDRESS>, YEAR. # #, fuzzy msgid "" msgstr "" "Project-Id-Version: questioning-sco.html\n" "POT-Creation-Date: 2021-09-14 16:26+0000\n" "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n" "Last-Translator: FULL NAME <EMAIL@ADDRESS>\n" "Language-Team: LANGUAGE <LL@li.org>\n" "Language: \n" "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=CHARSET\n" "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" #. type: Content of: <title> msgid "" "Questioning SCO: A Hard Look at Nebulous Claims - GNU Project - Free " "Software Foundation" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h2> msgid "Questioning SCO: A Hard Look at Nebulous Claims" msgstr "" #. type: Attribute 'content' of: <meta> msgid "" "SCO, GNU, Linux, free, software, foundation, freedom, legal, gpl, gnu, " "general, public, license, licensing, IBM, attacks, sue" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><address> msgid "by Eben Moglen <a href=\"#moglen\"><sup>[*]</sup></a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<i>Friday 1 August 2003</i>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Users of free software around the world are being pressured to pay The SCO " "Group, formerly Caldera, on the basis that SCO has “intellectual " "property” claims against the Linux operating system kernel or other " "free software that require users to buy a “license” from SCO. " "Allegations apparently serious have been made in an essentially unserious " "way: by press release, unaccompanied by evidence that would permit serious " "judgment of the factual basis for the claims. Firms that make significant " "use of free software are trying to evaluate the factual and legal basis for " "the demand. Failure to come forward with evidence of any infringement of " "SCO's legal rights is suspicious in itself; SCO's public announcement of a " "decision to pursue users, rather than the authors or distributors of " "allegedly-infringing free software only increases doubts." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It is impossible to assess the weight of undisclosed evidence. Based on the " "facts currently known, which are the facts SCO itself has chosen to " "disclose, a number of very severe questions arise concerning SCO's legal " "claims. As a lawyer with reasonably extensive experience in free software " "licensing, I see substantial reason to reject SCO's assertions. What " "follows isn't legal advice: firms must make their own decisions based upon " "an assessment of their particular situations through consultation with their " "own counsel. But I would like to suggest some of the questions that clients " "and lawyers may want to ask themselves in determining their response to " "SCO's licensing demands." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Where's the Beef?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "What does SCO actually claim belongs to it that someone else has taken or is " "misusing? Though SCO talks about “intellectual property,” this " "is a general term that needs specification. SCO has not alleged in any " "lawsuit or public statement that it holds patents that are being infringed. " "No trademark claims have been asserted. In its currently-pending lawsuit " "against IBM, SCO makes allegations of trade secret misappropriation, but it " "has not threatened to bring such claims against users of the Linux OS " "kernel, nor can it. It is undisputed that SCO has long distributed the " "Linux OS kernel itself, under the Free Software Foundation's GNU General " "Public License (GPL).<a href=\"#foot16\">[1]</a> To claim that one has a " "trade secret in any material which one is oneself fully publishing under a " "license that permits unlimited copying and redistribution fails two basic " "requirements of any trade secret claim: (1) that there is a secret; and (2) " "that the plaintiff has taken reasonable measures to maintain secrecy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So SCO's claims against users of the Linux kernel cannot rest on patent, " "trademark, or trade secret. They can only be copyright claims. Indeed, SCO " "has recently asserted, in its first specific public statement, that certain " "versions of the Linux OS kernel, the 2.4 “stable” and 2.5 " "“development” branches, have since 2001 contained code copied " "from SCO's Sys V Unix in violation of copyright.<a href=\"#foot26\">[2]</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The usual course in copyright infringement disputes is to show the " "distributor or distributors of the supposedly-infringing work the " "copyrighted work upon which it infringes. SCO has not done so. It has " "offered to show third parties, who have no interest in Linux kernel " "copyrights, certain material under non-disclosure agreements. SCO's press " "release of July 21 asserts that the code in recent versions of the Linux " "kernel for symmetric multi-processing violates their copyrights. " "Contributions of code to the Linux kernel are matters of public record: SMP " "support in the kernel is predominantly the work of frequent contributors to " "the kernel employed by Red Hat, Inc. and Intel Corp. Yet SCO has not shown " "any of its code said to have been copied by those programmers, nor has it " "brought claims of infringement against their employers. Instead, SCO has " "demanded that users take licenses. Which lead to the next question." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Why Do Users Need Licenses?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In general, users of copyrighted works do not need licenses. The Copyright " "Act conveys to copyright holders certain exclusive rights in their works. " "So far as software is concerned, the rights exclusively granted to the " "holder are to copy, to modify or make derivative works, and to distribute. " "Parties who wish to do any of the things that copyright holders are " "exclusively entitled to do need permission; if they don't have permission, " "they're infringing. But the Copyright Act doesn't grant the copyright " "holder the exclusive right to <i>use</i> the work; that would vitiate the " "basic idea of copyright. One doesn't need a copyright license to read the " "newspaper, or to listen to recorded music; therefore you can read the " "newspaper over someone's shoulder or listen to music wafting on the summer " "breeze even though you haven't paid the copyright holder. Software users " "are sometimes confused by the prevailing tendency to present software " "products with contracts under shrinkwrap; in order to use the software one " "has to accept a contract from the manufacturer. But that's not because " "copyright law requires such a license." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This is why lawsuits of the form that SCO appears to be " "threatening—against users of copyrighted works for infringement " "damages—do not actually happen. Imagine the literary equivalent of " "SCO's current bluster: Publishing house A alleges that the bestselling novel " "by Author X topping the charts from Publisher B plagiarizes its own more " "obscure novel by Author Y. “But,” the chairman of Publisher A " "announces at a news conference, “we're not suing Author X or Publisher " "B; we're only suing all the people who bought X's book. They have to pay us " "for a license to read the book immediately, or we'll come after them.” " "That doesn't happen, because that's not the law." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But don't users of free software make copies, and need a license for that " "activity? The Copyright Act contains a special limitation on the exclusive " "right to copy with respect to software. It does not infringe the copyright " "holder's exclusive right to copy software for the purpose of executing that " "software on one machine, or for purposes of maintenance or archiving. Such " "copying also requires no license. But what if a firm has gotten a single " "copy of the Linux kernel from some source, and has made many hundreds or " "thousands of copies for installation on multiple machines? Would it need a " "license for that purpose? Yes, and it already has one." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Do Users Already Have a License?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The Linux kernel is a computer program that combines copyrighted " "contributions from tens of thousands of individual programmers and firms. " "It is published and distributed under the GPL, which gives everyone " "everywhere permission to copy, modify and distribute the code, so long as " "all distribution of modified and unmodified copies occurs under the GPL and " "only the GPL. The GPL requires that everyone receiving executable binaries " "of GPL'd programs must get the full source code, or an offer for the full " "source code, and a copy of the license. The GPL specifies that everyone " "receiving a copy of a GPL'd program receives a license, on GPL terms, from " "every copyright holder whose work is included in any combined or derived " "work released under the license." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "SCO, it bears repeating, has long distributed the Linux kernel under GPL, " "and continues to do so as of this writing. It has directly given users " "copies of the work and copies of the license. SCO cannot argue that people " "who received a copyrighted work from SCO, with a license allowing them to " "copy, modify and redistribute, are not permitted to copy, modify and " "distribute. Those who have received the work under one license from SCO are " "not required, under any theory, to take another license simply because SCO " "wishes the license it has already been using had different terms." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In response to this simple fact, some SCO officials have recently argued " "that there is somehow a difference between their “distribution” " "of the Linux kernel and “contribution” of their copyrighted code " "to the kernel, if there is any such code in the work. For this purpose they " "have quoted section 0 of the GPL, which provides that “This License " "applies to any program or other work which contains a notice placed by the " "copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the terms of this " "General Public License.” The Linux kernel contains such notices in " "each and every appropriate place in the code; no one has ever denied that " "the combined work is released under GPL. SCO, as Caldera, has indeed " "contributed to the Linux kernel, and its contributions are included in " "modules containing GPL notices. Section 0 of the GPL does not provide SCO " "some exception to the general rule of the license; it has distributed the " "Linux kernel under GPL, and it has granted to all the right to copy, modify " "and distribute the copyrighted material the kernel contains, to the extent " "that SCO holds such copyrights. SCO cannot argue that its distribution is " "inadvertent: it has intentionally and commercially distributed Linux for " "years. It has benefited in its business from the copyrighted originality of " "tens of thousands of other programmers, and it is now choosing to abuse the " "trust of the community of which it long formed a part by claiming that its " "own license doesn't mean what it says. When a copyright holder says " "“You have one license from me, but I deny that license applies; take " "another license at a higher price and I'll leave you alone,” what " "reason is there to expect any better faith in the observance of the second " "license than there was as to the first?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Conclusion" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Users asked to take a license from SCO on the basis of alleged copyright " "infringement by the distributors of the Linux kernel have a right to ask " "some tough questions. First, what's the evidence of infringement? What has " "been copied from SCO copyrighted work? Second, why do I need a copyright " "license to use the work, regardless of who holds copyright to each part of " "it? Third, didn't you distribute this work yourself, under a license that " "allows everyone, including me, to copy, modify and distribute freely? When I " "downloaded a copy of the work from your FTP site, and you gave me the source " "code and a copy of the GPL, do you mean that you weren't licensing me all of " "that source code under GPL, to the extent that it was yours to license? " "Asking those questions will help firms decide how to evaluate SCO's " "demands. I hope we shall soon hear some answers." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Footnotes" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "Linux kernel source under GPL was available from SCO's FTP site as of July " "21, 2003." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "See <a " "href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20100911151935/http://ir.sco.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=114170\"> " "SCO Press Release, July 21, 2003</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "[*] Eben Moglen is professor of law at Columbia University Law School. He " "serves without fee as General Counsel of the Free Software Foundation." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't have notes. #. type: Content of: <div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S NOTES*" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a " "href=\"mailto:gnu@gnu.org\"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a " "href=\"/contact/\">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and " "other corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a " "href=\"mailto:webmasters@gnu.org\"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, #. replace it with the translation of these two: # #. We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality #. translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. #. Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard #. to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> # #. <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> # #. <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of #. our web pages, see <a #. href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations #. README</a>. #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please see the <a " "href=\"/server/standards/README.translations.html\">Translations README</a> " "for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this " "article." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Copyright © 2003 Eben Moglen" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Verbatim copying of this article is permitted in any medium, provided this " "notice is preserved." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't want credits. #. type: Content of: <div><div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S CREDITS*" msgstr "" #. timestamp start #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Updated:" msgstr ""