Is linux free 5014

This is a VERY dangerous misconception. (ObDisclaimer: I unfortunately cannot speak to Canadian or B.C. statute or caselaw, per se, and can in general speak only of standard USA copyright law. Your local mileage may differ.)

See "Micro Star v. FormGen, Inc.", 154 F.3d 1107 9th Cir. 1998, in which one computer game was ruled to be derivative of another even though the two had not a single line of code in common. The court found that the infringing work had incorporated audiovideo display data, a protected creative work, from the original, thereby incorporating the 'story' (not the story idea, but its various expressive elements) of the original game. This has been used as ruling precedent by other circuit judges, in all subsequent, similar cases.

Note: In so doing, GPLv2 is merely acknowledging what is outside its reach, through operation of external law: That would, in fact, be true regardless of whether GPLv2 said so. Moglen and company seem to have put that in there to buttist in interpretation.

Differences of view are, as the saying goes, what make horse races. But of course you'll make up your own mind, as is only appropriate, and is fine by me. All I'm doing is stating my mind, and attempting to clarify issues. What people choose to believe after that is their own problem.