On Tuesday 05 Jan 2010, Martin Spott wrote: > leee wrote: > > John, in referring to "our" software, I'm afraid that you're > > missing the point of the GPL. Once the software has been > > released under the GPL it isn't 'ours' or anyone else's > > anymore; it is owned by no one. > > Incorrect, the author is still holding the Copyright, as long as > he didn't explicitly transfer it to someone else. The "point of > the GPL" is the license which is controlling under which terms > the software may be used. Therefore it's called the "General > Public LICENSE" ;-) > > Martin.
Copyright isn't ownership, and visa-versa. Holding copyright entitles the copyright holder to state the conditions under which further copies of the work may be produced and distributed. Ownership applies to specific instances, or copies of the work. If you own a copyright DVD film you are perfectly entitled to destroy it if you should so wish; the copyright holder cannot prevent this as they do not own your specific copy. What the GPL does is establish the right, with conditions, for others to copy and distribute the work. While it doesn't remove the originator's copyright, it effectively grants the right to copy to everyone else, provided they comply with the conditions of the GPL. Quote: "The "point of the GPL" is the license which is controlling under which terms the software may be used" The GPL does not deal with the _use_ of a GPL'd work. The licence specifically states "Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope." LeeE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app distribution fast and easy Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
