Please note that I am still not a lawyer or a DD or speak for anyone etc. etc. (just trying to be helpful). I do not warrant that any of the sketchy ideas provided here are correct or legal or doable, don't sue me if they are not. Don't claim that I have been dealing out legal advise without a license, if you want to do any of this for real, ask a real, licensed lawyer to check your business methods or take full responsibility yourself. Personally I have not tried or done any of what is described here (as far as I recall).
On Sat, Aug 25, 2001 at 07:50:38PM +0200, Thomas Uwe Gruettmueller wrote: ... > > On Saturday, 25. August 2001 10:01, Edmund GRIMLEY EVANS wrote: > > Thomas Uwe Gruettmueller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > > Please note that I am not a lawyer and I am not speaking on > > behalf of Debian. > > Sure. > > > > When I understand the stuff on http://cdimages.debian.org > > > correctly, Debian suggests to sell also incomplete sets of > > > the official CDs, e.g. only Binary-1. If it is really > > > possible to sell Binary-only-CDs, how does it relate to the > > > GPL??? And does this rule only apply to the official CDs or > > > also to e.g. a developer snapshot of woody? > > > > (1) If you're distributing an official CD and Debian suggested > > that you can do this, then you probably don't have to worry: > > just tell people that you're acting as an agent for Debian and > > refer them to www.debian.org. > > However, according to section 3b, GPL, I would still have to > give my customers a written offer that Debian will offer the > source code for three years, right? > If YOU charge for the discs, bundle them with some product you sell (say a magazine) or hand them out to advertise such a product etc. etc. you must include or offer the source (not just tell people that Debian or someone else does that). This is a common example of the principle that the consumer can always demand that the shop handles the trouble of contacting the supplier (In this case, you are the shop). If YOU give away the discs for free without any relationship to commercial activity, you can hide under 3c and just tell people whatever you were told by whomever gave you the original. ... > > > c) Accompany it with the information you received as to > > > the offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This > > > alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution > > > and only if you received the program in object code or > > > executable form with such an offer, in accord with > > > Subsection b above.) > > I have just bought 6 binary-CDs (a woody snapshot) for approx. > 12$. However, I did not get a written offer to also get the > corresponding sources on CD. So, if I understand the GPL right, > > o I cannot copy and distribute these CDs at all, not even for a > friend, at no cost. This one is a little strange: If you got the CD from someone who was violating the GPL in giving you the copy, do you have a license at all? The language in the GPL about you not loosing your license if that someone violates the GPL later may not cover the case where the violation was to give you a bad copy in the first place. Assuming you do have a license, you can still give it away if you can satisfy a, b or c for source code matching the CDs (not a later or earlier snapshot). You can still sell it if you can do this for a or b. How you manage to give people source code you don't have is your problem, but for option c pointing people to www.debian.org might be fine if you say something like "According to the information I have received, the corresponding source code can be downloaded from the mirrors of www.debian.org, as of the date of the snapshot" (that Debian has later updated the contents of master with new versions is not your problem under 3c, if you are not commercial). > > o Even if I had such written offer, I could not copy and > distribute these CDs commercially (e.g. also 12$ for all). > ... Assuming you do have a written offer. You have 3 options for commercial distribution: Under 3a: Take the offer now, get the source CDs and include them when you distribute the copies of the binary CDs. Under 3b: Take the offer now, get the source CDs and put them in your safety deposit box. Give people a written offer valid for at least 3 year to provide copies of the source CDs in your deposit box at nominal charge. Under 3b too: Put the coupon with the written offer you received in your safety deposit box. Give people a written offer valid for at least 3 years to provide copies of the source CDs at nominal charge. If and when anyone takes you up on this offer, dig out the coupon, buy the source CDs (at your own expense) then make the copies. Beware that if the offer you received expires before the offer you give you may have to get the source CDs anyway just before the first deadline to cover yourself in case someone takes your offer after that. (Example: "upstream" gave you a 3 year offer starting on August 1 2001, you give people a 3 year offer starting September 1 2001. The first person to want a source CD from you calls on August 15 2004, you call upstream but their offer expired 2 weeks before, your offer has 2 weeks left, you are in trouble). -- This message is hastily written, please ignore any unpleasant wordings, do not consider it a binding commitment, even if its phrasing may indicate so. Its contents may be deliberately or accidentally untrue. Trademarks and other things belong to their owners, if any.
