Al Billings writes:
On Mon, 22 Nov 1993, kpj@sics.se wrote:
Naturally. I expect him to refuse. My whole question is whether it is valid to use Copyleft on code which is not freely copyable over national boundaries.
It is not his fault that he can't give it to you. He's made it freely available. If national boundaries interfere and paranoid US laws don't let him, I don't think you can blame HIM for that.
IMHO, the relevant section of the GPL, version 2 -- assuming that this is the version of the license Mike Ingle intends -- is as follows:
7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
The interpretation(s) are left to the cypherpunk esquires. nathan