Deutsche Telekom W700V GPL violation

[Sebastian Gottschall]

Thomas Charron schrieb:
> On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 6:18 PM, Sebastian Gottschall
> <s.gottschall at newmedia-net.de> wrote:
>   
>> and for the rest. how could it be that linux networking drivers drivers are
>> used in a proprietary operating system without using core parts of linux?
>> you will find 2 linux drivers in it. for ethernet and wireless.
>>     
>
>   The same way NDISWrapper can use Microsoft drivers under a Linux
> kernel.  Implementing a call compatible API isn't stealing the code
> IMHO (IANAL).
>   
the microsoft drivers are loaded by the user and also copied by the user 
to a filesystem,who owns a license to use these drivers.
but they can't be compiled staticly into a linux binary without breaking 
the gpl.
the same applies vice versa. a gpl sourcecode cannot be staticly 
compiled into a non gpl program and the resulting work cannot be released
without providing the source to the gpl source, derived work and 
modifications made on the gpl sources.
and how can you implement a compatible api without reading the original? 
the wireless extensions are not just a api. there are functional 
components behind it.
reimplementing this api without looking into the original source is 
problematic and a hard work. i dont think that someone reverse 
engineered the api if the sourcecode
is open and reimplementing the api based on the original source would 
result in a gpl licensed work as well (from the point how i understand 
the gpl license)

Sebastian