🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <726553525snx@crynwr.com> nelson@crynwr.com (Russell Nelson) writes:
>   But wait, I protest.  I didn't get S from a GPL program.  I
>   already had S, in a   non-GPL version.  Unfortunately, the version
>   of S which is GPL'ed is identical,   byte for byte, with the
>   version of S which is not.  It's not even clear that it's
>   _meaningful_ to say that I used one version instead of the other.
>   So I'm stuck.  The other company can pirate all they want.
>You *did* remember to register the copyright for B, didn't you?

So suppose a slightly different scenario.  I wrote two programs, A and B,
both of which have subroutine S in them.  Somehow A goes under the GPL,
perhaps because I decided to put it under GPL, perhaps because I made it PD
and someone else decided to put it under the GPL.

I now decide to write C, which also uses subroutine S.  If I take S from A,
C is infected with the GPL.  If I take S from B, C is not.

Yet the two copies of S are still identical, byte for byte.  I'm stuck; any
third party can say "oh, you just took S from the GPL program.  So C falls
under the GPL, so I can copy C".  Can _this_ happen and is _this_ intended?

Or imagine that someone else wrote S, which is PD.  Me and the GNU programmer
independently used S in our programs.  Once again some third party comes by and
says "oh, you took S from the GPL program.  I think I'll pirate your stuff."
(Of course, if I register first, I've escaped, but what if I didn't manage to?)
How could I possibly prove otherwise?
--
"On the first day after Christmas my truelove served to me...  Leftover Turkey!
On the second day after Christmas my truelove served to me...  Turkey Casserole
    that she made from Leftover Turkey.
[days 3-4 deleted] ...  Flaming Turkey Wings! ...
   -- Pizza Hut commercial (and M*tlu/A*gic bait)

Ken Arromdee (arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu, arromdee@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu)