*BSD News Article 9232


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From: styri@hal.nta.no (Haakon Styri)
Subject: Re: AT&T/USL CD-ROM Review Process
Message-ID: <1992Dec22.101217.6792@nntp.nta.no>
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References: <1ge0aaINNm4d@neuro.usc.edu> <1992Dec13.165418.5021@sbcs.sunysb.edu> <1992Dec13.183240.23944@blaze.cs.jhu.edu> <1992Dec14.165913.6896@fcom.cc.utah.edu> <1992Dec15.223317.158@nntp.hut.fi>
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 92 10:12:17 GMT
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In article <1992Dec15.223317.158@nntp.hut.fi>, jkp@cs.HUT.FI (Jyrki Kuoppala) writes:
> In article <1992Dec14.165913.6896@fcom.cc.utah.edu>, terry@cs (A Wizard of Earth C) writes:
> > Second, Linux is arguably more like SVR3 (and by extension SVR4) than
> > 386BSD; this, I believe, puts it in more danger of censure.  The thing
> > that has protected Linux so far is its international (non-US) origin.
> > This is not something USL has to worry about forever, it's simply an
> > inconvenience to prosecution, not a barrier.  If a judgement were given
> > regarding copyright infringement by Linux against USL's materials, it
> > wouldn't matter that the judgement occurred in the US; Linus' government
> > would be forced by the Berne convention to uphold the judgement.
> 
> Is this really so?  I don't think so, but what do I know.  First, I
> think Berne is much more limited than the current trend of the U.S.
> application of copyright laws to just about anything.  Second, as
> Linux's country of origin is Finland I think it would be the Finnish
> laws that would apply, not U.S.

You're right that the Berne convention is more restricted than current US
legislation. Anyway, the Berne convention only gives a set of rules that
should be _interpreted_ using the Finnish legislation. If something cannot
be copyrighted in Finland the Berne convention will not help.

Another point is that things may change due to the GATT agreement.

---
Haakon Styri