Z:gnu-www-ja-200104 seminar--4367ab-Free Software licensing in gen/en

Free Software licensing in general, and the GPL and LGPL in particular, relies critically on the concept of derivative work since software that is independent (i.e., not derivative) of Free Software need not abide by any of the terms of the applicable Free Software license. If a work is a derivative work of Free Software, then the terms of the license are triggered, and one has obligations to comply with the terms of the Free Software license under which the original work is distributed. Therefore, one is left to ask, just what is a &ldquo;derivative work?&rdquo; We will show how the answer to that question depends on which court is being asked. We also present the best background information available to build a working understanding of what is generally considered a derivate work in the rapidly changing field of software copyright law.