Re: software licensing
On Wed, Sep 02, 1998 at 09:04:45PM -0500, john@dhh.gt.org wrote:
> The GPL does not obligate me to distribute GPL software just because I
> exercise the right it gives me to make copies. The GPL permits me to sell
> copies of GPL software. According to your interpretation If I issue a
> copy of a GPL program to an employee so that he can offer it for sale, he
> is free to make copies of it and sell them in competition with me, and I
> can't fire him.
As far as I know, that last statement is almost exactly correct.
One detail, though: you can still fire him. It's just that such an action
puts you in violation of the GPL, and the upstream author can sue you.
Why? Because you've violated the license he gave _you_. You distributed
the software to your employee without giving him all the rights you had.
Because you didn't transfer these rights "downstream," you actually weren't
allowed to distribute it at all, period. Will the upstream author sue you?
I don't know. Is that the point?
Have fun,
Avery
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