Tim, I'm afraid you are mistaken.
The GPL grants recipients of a piece of software rights to obtain the source code for it. It does not remove any of the copyright-holder's rights. It is not OK include GPL code in proprietary products. Any work which is a derived work of code obtained under the GPL must itself be provided only under the terms of the GPL. Cheers, Wez @ RealVNC Ltd. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tim Meador > Sent: 04 April 2005 02:15 > To: vnc-list@realvnc.com > Subject: Re: What good is VNC's GPL? [snip] > > I also believe that this is OK because the RealVNC team owns the > > copyright on the GPL code and they are allowed to use it in non-GPL > > products. Am I right? > > No. No one can 'own' or copyright anything that's GPL'd. It's public > property. > > > is RealVNC not also allowed to let other > companies buy the right > > to use GPL'd code to create non-GPL software? > > Anyone can use GPL'd code to create non-GPL sotware. > BUT...and I hope I > get this right... > > 1. If changes are made to the GPL'd code, it MUST be re-released back > into the pulic domain. It cannot be copyrighted, etc. > 2. Additions (as separate add-ons, not added-in changes to the GPL'd > code itself) do not have to be GPL'd, and can be copyrighted as > proprietry software. > > IOW, it's OK to include GPL code in proprietary products, but what > you're actually being charged for is the non-GPL part of the product, > because any modified GPL code has to be released to the public. _______________________________________________ VNC-List mailing list VNC-List@realvnc.com To remove yourself from the list visit: http://www.realvnc.com/mailman/listinfo/vnc-list
