Linux kernel on HTC Hero Android phone (CDMA/US-Spec)

[Chris DiBona]

As an fyi, we're looking into the issue from the google side. It's an
HTC made and marketed phone, so it's not as clear a line as we might
like there for us. So, I can't really take responsibility for HTC
shipped phones.

But, you can yell at me for nexus issues, if you find any. I will note
that for documentation requirements, you might find what you are
looking for in the about->legal section on the phone. We build a nice
docs compiler that exposes the software licenses to any users.

Chris

On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 8:56 AM, Neil Brown <neil at neilzone.co.uk> wrote:
> (Originally replied just to Chris, by accident, so copied back onto list)
>
> Quoting Chris McCracken <chrismc at ozarkmountain.net>:
>
>> HTC is required by US and International copyright law to do so.
>
> This is, perhaps, a little misleading, at least to my understanding- HTC is
> required by the terms of GNU GPL to do so (as you point out above), not by
> any copyright law. If HTC does not comply with the terms of the licence,
> then, HTC may infringe copyright, but there is no requirement of copyright
> law as such to make the source code available.
>
>> If this request is not
>> met, then HTC is required by law to cease and desist distribution of said
>> software (Linux kernel), which would require ceasing distribution of the
>> US-spec CDMA Hero phone as currently configured.
>
>
> Similar to the above - this may be an aspect of US law with which I am not
> familiar, but, in the UK, there is no legal requirement to cease
> distributing something, even if it is infringing copyright, without a court
> order requiring this - it's just that the distribution would amount to an
> infringement of copyright.
>
>
> In any case, were the request not met, cessation of distribution would be
> insufficient, to my mind, since this only prevents future infringement - it
> does nothing to remedy past infringement.
>
>
> Just my thoughts, as always!
>
> --
>
>
>
> Neil
>
> neil at neilzone.co.uk | http://neilzone.co.uk
>
>
>



-- 
Open Source Programs Manager, Google Inc.
Google's Open Source program can be found at http://code.google.com
Personal Weblog: http://dibona.com