[CentOS] RHEL on The Pirate Bay, Mininova, etc

[Stephen John Smoogen]

On Sat, Mar 22, 2008 at 1:36 PM, Ray Van Dolson <rayvd at bludgeon.org> wrote:
>
> On Sat, Mar 22, 2008 at 12:29:54PM -0700, John R Pierce wrote:
>  > Johnny Hughes wrote:
>  >> You can not redistribute the redhat-logos or redhat-artwork binary
>  >> packages to others unless you are selling your media.  You also can not
>  >> distribute those 2 source or binary RPMS without editing and removing the
>  >> logos / trademark related things in them.  Since the ISOs in question on
>  >> the Bittorrent sites distribute those files, they are illegal per Red
>  >> Hat's trademark policies.
>  >>

Actually there are cases already in place on this. Just not ones that
Red Hat has been part of but other organizations with similar laws and
licenses. Like most cases, most people don't want to talk to pay a
lawyer who is going to do the research.. they want someone else to do
so.. and then they will only consider it authoritative when they read
it in USA Today or Wikipedia.

The GPL covers source code. It covers binaries in the format that if
you buy the binary, you have the right to request the source code the
binary was compiled from. Red Hat supplies that. The GPL does not say
anything of the restrictions you have on that binary. Those are
covered in the contract between you and Red Hat. What Red Hat can not
do is restrict you from giving that source code to other entities. The
difference between binary and source was deliberate on the part of the
FSF, and has been used by Cygnus and Stalhman himself well before Red
Hat came on the scene.

>  What we need is a case that's been taken to court and a verdict given.
>  :)  I've long tried to get an answer from RH as to whether or not I can
>  reinstall their media on other machines just "without" buying an
>  entitlement (after all you can continue using RH after the 30 demo
>  expires).

You are asking for legal advice from a company you are doing business
with. If Red Hat answered that question as most people phrase it they
would end up in all kinds of problems. Get a lawyer, have them look
the contract, the case law, and how it applies to you. [The way
lawyers really make the money is that they can only give advice on how
it affects you.. not how it affects people in general etc.. even a
court's decision may only apply on the 2 parties of the contract and
not all people who have similar contracts]

-- 
Stephen J Smoogen. -- CSIRT/Linux System Administrator
How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed
in a naughty world. = Shakespeare. "The Merchant of Venice"