Re: gEDA-user: More footprint stuff

[DJ Delorie <dj@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I don't think that this is an issue. If it were, artwork produced
> using GIMP would be GPL'ed and for sure, there is lots of art work
> on the WWW that that was produced using GIMP and it's not GPL'ed.

It's more like someone using GPL'd clip art in a photo produced with
GIMP.

> If this were true, documents produced with MS fonts would be the
> property of MS and so on and so forth.

MS has produced a set of fonts specifically designed for the web, so
that users don't have to (illegally) copy around their standard
windows fonts.  You can't copy the *fonts* but you can copy images
produced by those fonts.

> Further, the use of a font in a document cannot be seen as a derived
> work of the font:

You're confusing what derived works are.  If a document calls for a
given font, and the user must provide that font on their computer,
it's not a derived work.  If the document contains a *copy* of the
font so that the user *doesn't* have to have a copy (this is what the
web would have to do), that's a derived work.  If the document
contains the *results* of using the font (PDF does this), it's not a
derived work.

In the case of gschem symbols or pcb footprints, the project file
contains a *copy* of the symbol/footprint.  Thus, it's a derived work.
The gerber files, IMHO, don't contain a copy of the footprint (they
contain the results of applying that footprint), and an etched board
certainly doesn't.

I think the fact that you can extract (via cut-n-paste even) the
symbol/footprint from the project file and use it elsewhere pretty
much shows that it's a derived work.

And a more appropriate example (for us) is: The use of Word to create
a document doesn't mean the document belongs to Microsoft, but
including chapter 4 of one of Asimov's books in your document *does*
mean it's owned (in part) by Asimov's estate.

Similarly, the use of pcb to create a board doesn't mean the board is
limited by pcb's license, but the use of pcb's footprints *does* mean
the board file is limited by the footprint's license.

> The font never changed.

That's actually evidence that it *is* a derived work, if the document
contains an unchanged copy of the font.