GPL compliance

[Mario Vukelic]

On Sun, 2006-07-02 at 00:22 +0200, Alexander Skwar wrote:
> > Nothing should (nor would) stop the author, unless maybe he wasn't
> the
> > owner of his authorship
> 
> That's not possible. An author is always an author. 

I think Gary means a case where the author of the program used code to
which he had no rights, e.g. which was seen under an NDA

> > (eg, he sold his rights or was an employee who
> > never had any).
> 
> Not possible, as far as I know. 

VERY possible and in fact the case basically everywhere. If you work as
an employee, you work as an agent of your employer. That limits your
liabilities (if you make a mistake as part of your job that costs a
million dollars, your employer must provide the money unless your didn't
observe the rules), but it also limits your rights, e.g. everything you
create on the job belongs to your employer. It's the basis of capitalism
and the main critique of marxism.

You didn't really think that if you work for BMW and invent a new
engine, it's yours? (Which would mean you can sell it to
DaimlerChrysler)

All of the above disregards the so-called moral right since it's
insignificant, see my other post