Re: [upcoming] The European Court of Justice on 'Software' First Sale

[Ivan Shmakov]

>>>>> Alexander Terekhov <terekhov@web.de> writes:

        [Dropping news:comp.os.linux.advocacy, for nntp://aioe.org/ is
        unlikely to allow it.]

 > Official death of copyleft in EU:

 > http://www.gamerlaw.co.uk/2012/07/legality-of-second-hand-sales-in-eu.html

        Well, thanks for an early warning, but frankly, I don't quite
        understand what it has to do with copyleft?

        While the growing acceptance of the "information as a property"
        idea is disturbing, this particular court decision may be a move
        in a direction that isn't exactly wrong.  For decades, the
        powers behind this "intellectual property" misconception have
        reminded us that "you steal when you copy", and "you're pirating
        when we're to lose our profits" (despite the fact that the
        piracy is outlawed not only because it leads to lost /profits/,
        but first and foremost because it leads to lost /lives/), and
        now they've got what they've wanted: the thing one can steal,
        the other can resell.  Quite an obvious thing, should one think
        of it!

        And where they would go next?  It's my understanding that one's
        free to examine his or her own property, to disassemble or
        improve it, -- it may be a hammer, or it may be a radio, or a TV
        (and indeed, we've got a glorious past to remember, that of
        radio amateurs constantly improving their very own equipment.)
        Now, would the same principle be applied to a program?  I wonder
        if there'll soon be a law that gives everyone the freedom to
        study how a program works, and to change it to make it do what
        you wish (just like you can do to your property!), and do that
        for just /any/ program one lawfully acquires.  With that, we'll
        still be 2.5 to 3 freedoms apart of the software freedom proper,
        but that could be a good start, anyway.

[...]

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FSF associate member #7257