On 8/9/2010 3:53 PM, RJack wrote:
Under the criminal statutes, the crime of "attempted conversion" is
an attempt to exert unauthorized control over others property.
Using the GPL is attempting to seize control over all downstream
third parties' *exclusively owned* copyrights -- that *is*
attempting to steal in ever sense of the word.
The GPL cannot seize anything. The GPL is a license that can only be
accepted voluntarily by someone choosing to copy and distribute a
covered work. No downstream third party exclusive owner of copyrights
can ever be forced to yield control of them.
The only attempt to exert unauthorized control over someone else's
property comes from the thieves and moochers who wish to copy and
distribute GPL-covered code without honoring the license of that
code. Fortunately, copyright law prevents them from being able to do
so.