<quote who="Brad Kowalczyk"> > Just one small Q, lets say I develop an app and release it under say the > GPL, if I then improve on this app adding new features and functionality > and wish to make a $ with it can I then release it under a > <shudder>>closed source</shudder> license even though it is heavily based > on GPL'd code?
Because you hold the copyright, yes. Here's an example: Ximian wrote the Evolution groupware suite, so hold the copyright. They require copyright attribution from contributors so that they continue to hold copyright over the complete work. That allowed them to ship Evolution with the Exchange connector (which until a few weeks ago, was closed). If their contributors had not assigned copyright, Ximian would not be able to ship a proprietary module along with their contributor's code. Quite a few projects work in a similar fashion (FSF/GNU-backed projects, Twisted, etc). If you hold the copyright, you can do whatever the hell you want. When you accept contributions under the GPL, you no longer hold complete copyright; your project becomes a 'collaborative work' (I don't think collaborative is the right legal word though). Fun stuff. ;-) - Jeff -- GVADEC 2004: Kristiansand, Norway http://2004.guadec.org/ "Orphaned farm-boy hero helps save world against bad-guys, begins a journey of self-discovery, and makes interesting friends. Passable." - Andrew Bennetts on Star Wars -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
