I think I understand the GPL pretty well, but I would like to get a considered, expert opinion on the following scenario. For example, consider a particular audio compression technology with the following components:
A = software based compressor and decompressor B = the file format of the compressed music C = patents covering the generic technology Q = entity who developed/owns all of the above If entity Q does the following: * A is licensed under the GPL * B is published w/all rights reserved by Q * C are licensed royalty-free for GPL software complying with B. * A and/or C are additionally available for commercial licensing, under a fee-bearing proprietary license. The goal of the compatibility-with-B requirement in the patent licensing is to prevent interoperability problems. Two questions: 1) Is this all ok in theory with respect to the GPL? 2) Is this all ok in practice, or will entities like the FSF or others object to something? Thank you, Jeff -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3
