Re: GNU or Open Source Licensing agreenemt.

[Adam Aube <aaube01@baker.edu>]

Howard Levine wrote:

> I understand the license to freely copy, alter, and distribute the
> software.  Does anyone have claim against my USE of it, or my profit with
> it at business other than programming per se? 

There is nothing that prevents you from making money off of the use or sale
of GPL software, and nothing that makes you give up a share of your
profits. The GPL is about "free" as in free speech, not free beer.

The only "strings" attached to the GPL involve distribution and derivative
works, and are as follows (paraphrased):

1) If you distribute the software, you must make the source freely available
2) Derivative works must also be released under the GPL

Note that original work you create (code, documents, etc) does NOT need to
be licensed under the GPL, even if you used a GPL-licensed code to create
it. The only work you must release under the GPL is work derived from
something that is licensed under the GPL.

> Should I develop a patentable extension to the Debian opus, is there any
> claim against my profit?

Not unless it is a derived work.

Adam