[ale] Red Hat and the GPL
James P. Kinney III
jkinney at localnetsolutions.com
Tue Dec 9 18:07:23 EST 2003
As I read the EULA, RedHat is not in violation of the GPL. The
distribute the source with the binaries, the don't restrict the use of
the binaries. What the restrict is the use of their network access. They
do restrict the use of the RedHat name and logo. As such, there is a
single package that contains all of the RedHat branding. If that package
is removed, The EULA does not restrict the redistribution of the entire
RHEL. But it is not legal to call it RHEL.
The EULA from RedHat Enterprise Linux:
LICENSE AGREEMENT AND LIMITED PRODUCT WARRANTY
RED HAT? ENTERPRISE LINUX? VERSION 3
This agreement governs the use of the Software and any updates to the
Software, regardless of the delivery mechanism. The Software is a
collective work under U.S. Copyright Law. Subject to the following
terms, Red Hat, Inc. (?Red Hat?) grants to the user (?Customer?) a
license to this collective work pursuant to the GNU General Public
License.
1. The Software. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (the ?Software?) is a
modular operating system consisting of hundreds of software
components. The end user license agreement for each component is
located in the component's source code. With the exception of
certain image files identified in Section 2 below, the license
terms for the components permit Customer to copy, modify, and
redistribute the component, in both source code and binary code
forms. This agreement does not limit Customer's rights under, or
grant Customer rights that supersede, the license terms of any
particular component.
2. Intellectual Property Rights. The Software and each of its
components, including the source code, documentation, appearance,
structure and organization are owned by Red Hat and others and are
protected under copyright and other laws. Title to the Software
and any component, or to any copy, modification, or merged portion
shall remain with the aforementioned, subject to the applicable
license. The ?Red Hat? trademark and the ?Shadowman? logo are
registered trademarks of Red Hat in the U.S. and other countries.
This agreement does not permit Customer to distribute the Software
using Red Hat's trademarks. Customer should read the information
found at http://www.redhat.com/about/corporate/trademark/ before
distributing a copy of the Software, regardless of whether it has
been modified. If Customer makes a commercial redistribution of
the Software, unless a separate agreement with Red Hat is executed
or other permission granted, then Customer must modify the files
identified as ?REDHAT-LOGOS? and ?anaconda-images? to remove all
images containing the ?Red Hat? trademark or the ?Shadowman? logo.
Merely deleting these files may corrupt the Software.
3. Limited Warranty. Except as specifically stated in this agreement
or a license for a particular component, to the maximum extent
permitted under applicable law, the Software and the components
are provided and licensed ?as is? without warranty of any kind,
expressed or implied, including the implied warranties of
merchantability, non-infringement or fitness for a particular
purpose. Red Hat warrants that the media on which the Software is
furnished will be free from defects in materials and manufacture
under normal use for a period of 30 days from the date of delivery
to Customer. Red Hat does not warrant that the functions
contained in the Software will meet Customer's requirements or
that the operation of the Software will be entirely error free or
appear precisely as described in the accompanying
documentation. This warranty extends only to the party that
purchases the Software from Red Hat or a Red Hat authorized
distributor.
4. Limitation of Remedies and Liability. To the maximum extent
permitted by applicable law, the remedies described below are
accepted by Customer as its only remedies. Red Hat's entire
liability, and Customer's exclusive remedies, shall be: If the
Software media is defective, Customer may return it within 30 days
of delivery along with a copy of Customer's payment receipt and
Red Hat, at its option, will replace it or refund the money paid
by Customer for the Software. To the maximum extent permitted by
applicable law, Red Hat or any Red Hat authorized dealer will not
be liable to Customer for any incidental or consequential damages,
including lost profits or lost savings arising out of the use or
inability to use the Software, even if Red Hat or such dealer has
been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event
shall Red Hat's liability under this agreement exceed the amount
that Customer paid to Red Hat under this agreement during the
twelve months preceding the action.
5. Export Control. As required by U.S. law, Customer represents and
warrants that it: (a) understands that the Software is subject to
export controls under the U.S. Commerce Department?s Export
Administration Regulations (?EAR?); (b) is not located in a
prohibited destination country under the EAR or U.S. sanctions
regulations (currently Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan
and Syria); (c) will not export, re-export, or transfer the
Software to any prohibited destination, entity, or individual
without the necessary export license(s) or authorizations(s) from
the U.S. Government; (d) will not use or transfer the Software for
use in any sensitive nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, or
missile technology end-uses unless authorized by the
U.S. Government by regulation or specific license; (e) understands
and agrees that if it is in the United States and exports or
transfers the Software to eligible end users, it will, as required
by EAR Section 741.17(e), submit semi-annual reports to the
Commerce Department?s Bureau of Industry & Security (BIS), which
include the name and address (including country) of each
transferee; and (f) understands that countries other than the
United States may restrict the import, use, or export of
encryption products and that it shall be solely responsible for
compliance with any such import, use, or export restrictions.
6. Third Party Programs. Red Hat may distribute third party software
programs with the Software that are not part of the Software.
These third party programs are subject to their own license terms.
The license terms either accompany the programs or can be viewed
at http://www.redhat.com/licenses/. If Customer does not agree to
abide by the applicable license terms for such programs, then
Customer may not install them. If Customer wishes to install the
programs on more than one system or transfer the programs to
another party, then Customer must contact the licensor of the
programs.
7. General. If any provision of this agreement is held to be
unenforceable, that shall not affect the enforceability of the
remaining provisions. This agreement shall be governed by the
laws of the State of North Carolina and of the United States,
without regard to any conflict of laws provisions, except that the
United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods shall
not apply.
Copyright ? 2003 Red Hat, Inc. All rights reserved. "Red Hat" and
the Red Hat "Shadowman" logo are registered trademarks of Red Hat,
Inc. "Linux" is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
On Tue, 2003-12-09 at 14:51, Bob Toxen wrote:
> The individual copyright holders of the software that comprise the
> Linux OS and related user and library code should tell Red Hat: "NO!
> You cannot do that [putting restrictions on GPL'ed code] and must stop now!"
>
> "NO! You cannot distribute OUR copyrighted code on the condition that
> the Red Hat customer agree to additional restrictions such as:
>
> 1. Not distributing patches among all of your machines and clients.
>
> 2. Charging fees in excess of reasonable copying fees for distributing
> GPL-licensed Open Source
>
> 3. A purchaser of a Red Hat CD-ROM (or downloaded CD-ROM image) cannot
> distribute it "because of red hat trademark logos".
>
> Red Hat currently is doing these things and I think that this constitutes
> copyright infringement in that they are using copyrighted code in ways
> clearly forbidden by the GPL.
>
> Have a look at the GPL at
>
> http://www.fsf.org/licenses/gpl.html
>
> as I did in preparing this email. It appears to me that Red Hat is
> in violation of the GPL for demanding these restrictions of its customers.
>
> The portions of the GPL that seem most relevant to me are:
>
> "To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
> anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the
> rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for
> you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
> ...
> "You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy,
> and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange
> for a fee.
> Warranty protection means, I believe, that Red Hat may charge money for
> fixing bugs. However, it cannot put "per seat" or "per system" restrictions
> or fees on patches for GPL'ed code. I.e., they must make patches (usually
> engineered by an Open Source entity other than Red Hat) available for a
> low cost or at no cost.
> ...
> "These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If
> identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program,
> and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
> themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
> sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you
> distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work
> based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the
> terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend
> to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of
> who wrote it.
>
> That requirement seems to make illegal Red Hat's published policy of
> forbidding others from redistributing "Red Hat Linux" in either original
> or modified form claiming that to do so would be illegally using Red Hat's
> trademarked images scattered throughout the boot process, documentation,
> and elsewhere. It appears to me the "These requirements apply to the
> modified work as a whole." requirement of the GPL expressly forbid
> this practice.
>
> "6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on
> the Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from
> the original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program
> subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any
> further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights
> granted herein.
>
>
>
> I suggest that we contact some of the copyright holders of GPL'ed code
> and see if there's agreement to contact Red Hat and tell them to stop
> their current practice as it is bad for Linux and the community.
>
> (While I consider myself more knowledgeable in contract and copyright
> law than the average person, I am not an attorney. Any statements by
> myself here are my opinion.)
>
> Best regards,
>
> Bob Toxen, CTO
> Fly-By-Day Consulting, Inc.
>
> Author,
> "Real World Linux Security: Intrusion Detection, Prevention, and Recovery"
> 2nd Ed., Prentice Hall, (C) 2003, 848 pages, ISBN: 0130464562
> Also available in Japanese, Chinese, and Czech.
>
> http://www.verysecurelinux.com [Network & Linux/Unix Security Consulting]
> http://www.realworldlinuxsecurity.com [My 5* book: "Real World Linux Security"]
> http://www.verysecurelinux.com/sunset.html [Sunset Computer]
> _______________________________________________
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> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
--
James P. Kinney III \Changing the mobile computing world/
CEO & Director of Engineering \ one Linux user /
Local Net Solutions,LLC \ at a time. /
770-493-8244 \.___________________________./
http://www.localnetsolutions.com
GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
<jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7
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