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"