[Bf-committers] copyright and suzanne

[Robert Wenzlaff]

On Wednesday 15 December 2004 10:00, Douglas Toltzman wrote:
> As the owner of a software development company, and a professional content
> creator, I've had several opportunities to research copyright law and to
> consult copyright attorneys.  Although you are technically correct, I
> do not think the topic merits any anxiety.  By placing something into the
> public domain (by including it in a GPL'd program), one had made it next
> to impossible to sue for damages base on intellectual property rights.  At
> the very least, suzanne should come up with a copyright notice to advise
> that suzanne was not covered by the program license.

I think you have the direction wrong.  We're not worried about anyone suing 
the Blender Foundation, or the Blender Foundation suing a user for using 
Suzanne.   

What we are discussing here is:  if I make an image with Blender that includes 
Suzanne, does the GPL that covers the code that makes Suzanne somehow leak 
into my image.  Could someone copy my image and I be unable to sue because 
Suzanne is subject to the GPL?

I think not.  The GPL applied to a software product only applies to derived 
software products.  An image of Suzanne is not a software product.
-- 

Robert Wenzlaff    rwenzlaff at soylent-green.com