Yes, they have the permission of the copyright holders, but they do not
have a license from the (alleged) patent holder. I don't think that
the definition of "distribute" means any different in copyright law than
in patent law. If you distribute software that contains patented
technology without a license, you are still running afoul of the law
regardless of what the copyright holder says.
Ryan Malayter wrote:
[Arnt Gulbrandsen]
If you think offering software downloads to the general public isn't
redistributing, I dare you to put your Windows CDs on your web site.
There's a big difference between the situations: Sourceforge is being
used as a transmission agent by, and is authorized by, the copyright
holders of the Sendmail software. If I posted my Windows CDs, I would be
transmitting the software without MS's permission.
I think the "courier" analogy I used before still applies.
-Ryan-