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Re: GPL Liscensing on New Release: What Gives?
> > > > the GPL is now also being used to protect commercial interests [2].
> > >
> > > Greetings,
> > >
> > > I am not very good at economics/law matters. Could you explain how
the
> GPL is protecting
> > > commercial interests?
> > >
> >
> > Jay Lepreau is preparing a FAQ for this, but in brief this situation is
> > as follows:
> >
> > It is important to distinguish between copyright ownership and the
> > act of licensing code.
> >
> > The copyright holder of a piece of code, that is, the owner, can
> > release that piece of code under as many licenses as he or she wants.
> > One of these licenses may be the GPL. It's the freedom of the owner
> > to decide.
> >
> > Because of the restrictions associated with the GPL, namely its
> > contamination clause, releasing code under the GPL will prevent
> > law-abiding citizens (and non-citizens, for that matter) from
> > including the code in closed-source products, which most commercial
> > products still are.
>
Actually, I think anyone of above average intellectual capacity would not
give the credibility to such a preposterous scheme. There's something
extremely wrong with verbage that oversteps it's boundary by
attempting to alter others' behaviour. It then no longer is a license but
some kind of agreement to voluntary servitude at best. Scenario: I buy a
toaster. On the box it says that to use that toaster, I agree to give my
future children up for adoption. GPL at most can cover only the original
sources to which it was applied at most. I agree that GPL needs its day
in court (or its day being thrown out of court!).
>
> > People interested in including the code in commercial, closed-source
> > products have the possibility of negotiating other licensing conditions
> > with the copyright owner. In other words, they can buy the right to
> > include the code in their products without falling victim to GPL's
> > contamination.
Hey all! Buy my toasters, they're great! Hey all! Buy my toasters,
they're great! (Please read the fine print on the box and note you are
forfeiting
your future children by buying and using the toaster). Hey all! Buy my
toasters, they're great! Hey all! Buy my toasters, they're great!
> > Hence, the GPL protects the interests and intellectual property rights
of
>
> > the copyright holder: not by preventing others from seeing or using the
> code,
> > but by restricting other people's freedom to include the code into
their
> > products without having paid for it, if those products are of the
> > traditional closed-source kind.
>
So it's a little dishonest not to disclose all the requirements up front.
Like what the cost of the code is in that instance. See it's little
things like that
that put a black cloud over the whole GNU/GPL thing.
> > Clearly, it does not provide full protection in that it does not
prevent
> > others from including (and possibly selling) the code in GPLed products
> > they may offer.
> >
> > As an aside, this is different from what the FSF requires developers
> > of GNU projects to do: they require those developers to assign their
> > copyright to the FSF, preventing them from doing what I just described.
> >
> > I'm not an expert either, but I hope that helps.
> >
> > - Godmar