The second advice given by the SFLC was that a GPL can be wrapped
around another author's work. [...] but it
unfortunately says nothing about _when_ an author of a derivative
receives the right to do such a thing. The SFLC waives that concern
away. But that is the clincher -- by law, a new person doing small
changes to an original work is not allowed to assert copyright, and
hence, gains none of the rights given by copyright law, and hence,
cannot assert a license (copyright licenses surrender a subset of the
author's rights which the law gives them; the licenses do not not
assert rights out of thin air).
Those files are still invalidly being distributed -- Nick and Jiri did
not proveably do enough original work to earn copyright on a
derivative work, since their work is just an adaptation. It is in
their best interest to talk to the original author in respectful tones
and have him recognize their work. A lawyer like Eben Moglen will not
help at this point since his misrepresentations have caused all this
grief to begin with.
Now it may seem petty to be pointing out the above, but these Linux
wireless developers have ignored the ethical considerations of
honouring the author for his work, and then violated the law _3 times_
under advice from a ex-FSF laywer. Come on. By that point someone
should at least be offering the author an apology, and who cares if it
makes the lawyer look like he's incompetent. The only thing he is
competent at is convincing a bunch of programmers to follow his agenda
and walk into a legal mess.
If those developers who live in Europe want a court case in the EU
where the original author lives, they should perhaps consider that an
American lawyer who has made three bogus assessments in a row
regarding a criminal code won't be able to help them in that
jurisdiction. Furthermore, the American developers involved should
recognize that copyright law cases decided in one country apply to
other countries.
By the way, Richard Stallman eventually replied with the one liner
"The FSF is not involved in this dispute."