Z:gnu-www-ja-moglen-harvard-speech-2004--7c54c0-=3Cb=3EQ:=3C/b=3E So, author writes so/en

Q: So, author writes software. The moment the software is fixed in a tangible medium, copyright attaches; others can't use it without further action by author. Author chooses to adopt the General Public License to govern what others can do with the software, and you made the intriguing point then that the General Public License gives, with certain limits, and that's why, you point out, nobody is really wanting to challenge it all that much because it would be a Pyrrhic challenge. If you win and the license evaporates, then it rubber-bands back to the author.