begin quoting Paul G. Allen as of Wed, May 02, 2007 at 09:15:54AM -0700: [snip] > The GPL grants the licensee the right to re-distribute the Program and > any derivative works. If the license is violated (e.g. - you sell the > Program and/or derivative works without providing the source code and a > copy of the license with it), *then* the license, and all rights granted > by it, can be revoked.
By whom? The ninety-two contributors, some of which are rather difficult to reach? I still wonder if the "we'll distribute the source code -- just not right now -- it'll be a couple of years before we get that set up" approach would work. > > In practice, however, I don't think that's likely. > > > > However, one never knows what a company with more lawyers than market share > > might choose to do. > > Whatever the hell they want until they are stopped. (My lawyers often > tell me that, right before I stop the other party from doing whatever > the hell they want. :) ) You never lose, eh? [snip] > > I thought gifts couldn't be retracted. Once you've made a gift, you've > > given up your rights to control the gift. > > It happens all the time in courts. Someone says, "I gave it to them as a > gift." > > The judge says, "Then you gave up all your rights to it." Yup. Which is why the lack of a consideration with GPL software might well turn it into a gift. > > The issue is murky enough for laywers to scratch their heads and have > > honest and meaningful disagreements; the certainity of the armchair > > crowd is a bit disconcerting. > > I don't think they have honest and meaningful disagreements about > anything most of the time, let alone about this. :) I think they do. Any group of intelligent people will. > The only reason it appears to be murky is because of the hidden agendas > behind those lawyers and corporations that are making it murky. It's hidden agendas all around, friend. -- It's becoming obvious that RMS hates programmers. Stewart Stremler -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
