[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Distributing GPL software.



Ken Arromdee wrote:
On Fri, 13 Jan 2006, Mahesh T. Pai wrote:

> And I'm still not in prison. How come?

1. You have  some kind of  understanding with the copyright  holder of
  the program in question.

2. You have not been prosecuted != you have not broken the law.


I think his point is this: Person A can legally make and distribute a lot of
copies to B without putting B under any obligation, as long as B doesn't
make more copies himself.  B, who now has a lot of copies, can dispose of them
as he wishes by first sale, without having to obey the GPL.

This is probably right. B will not break the law. However; the GPL give you permission to distribute the software only if you agree to it. If you don't agree to it you loose your permission and only the normal copyright law apply. So if B do that he loose forever the possibility of duplicating, redistributing the sofware that he have himself downloaded and modyfing the software since the GPL does not apply to him anymore. I don't think this is a price that is worth paying...

Olive



Reply to: