Z:gnu-www-ja-questioning-sco--e98a70-But don't users of free softwa/en

But don't users of free software make copies, and need a license for that activity? The Copyright Act contains a special limitation on the exclusive right to copy with respect to software. It does not infringe the copyright holder's exclusive right to copy software for the purpose of executing that software on one machine, or for purposes of maintenance or archiving. Such copying also requires no license. But what if a firm has gotten a single copy of the Linux kernel from some source, and has made many hundreds or thousands of copies for installation on multiple machines? Would it need a license for that purpose? Yes, and it already has one.