Non_Open Source materials being embedded in OS stacks/standalones.

[Mark Wieder]

Richmond-

Saturday, April 13, 2013, 11:50:39 AM, you wrote:

> The point of my e-mail is that, I suspect, for an awful lot of people
> who download LC OSS and start using it, this will be their first 
> experinece with Open Source Software,

I'm not entirely sure that's true.

> and they may be completely unaware
> that Open Source 'Freedom' comes with its own set of restrictions which
> they need to be
> aware of.

> I am not entirely sure that the documentation that acompanies LC OSS
> makes the sort of concerns I have raised clear.

It's not an LC concern per se, or an OSS concern, but a matter of
ownership of artists rights.

There was a PBS movie made of Ursula LeGuin's Lathe of Heaven in 1982.
It showed for a week on television and then disappeared. It couldn't
be released to the public because they had gotten only limited rights
to use the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends", which was a
key part of the storyline. Apple Records refused to give them more
widespread distribution rights, and so the movie sat in the can for
two decades. It was finally released with a different soundtrack with
someone else doing an awful cover version of the song, as Apple still
refused any less-restrictive rights.

John Fogerty for years was unable to perform his songs in public
(songs he wrote) because Fantasy Records owned the rights and Saul
Zaentz even sued Fogerty for plagiarizing himself (!).

-- 
-Mark Wieder
 mwieder at ahsoftware.net