Why do people always ask me about legal questions involving closed source drivers in the kernel on the linux-kernel mailing list? Mailing list threads about this topic always devolve into something that goes something like this:

"Well I think it's legal to do this."

"No, I think it's legal to do this instead."

And of course, everyone assumes that just because some companies are getting away with it for now (nvidia, ati, vmware) that it is acceptable for everyone else to do so. Bah, as if that were true.

Anyway, if you have legal questions about if you can ship a closed source module for Linux, just consult a lawyer that specializes in Intellectual Property. They are the best ones to advise you, not a bunch of coders...

In the meantime, me and the rest of the kernel programmers will be over here in the corner, making it harder and harder for any closed source module to ever work in Linux. Applying technical solutions for when legal ones don't work...

As for the people who send me flames (always privately, I guess they don't like to spew crap in public for some reason) because I broke the nvidia driver again, get your facts straight before trying to accuse me of anything...

posted Wed, 30 Mar 2005 in [/diary]