On Jul 27, 2008, Antonio Olivares <olivares14031@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > One of the problems with the GPL is that people can violate it and > then when they see themselves corraled, they can say I will release > the code and be clear. This is simply not true. When people violate the GPL, they lose their license to further modify or distribute the program. They depend on the copyright holders to reinstate the license. If the copyright holders refuse to do that, no more modification or distribution rights for the infringer. Now, it is common for copyright holders to be happy to accept outcomes such as this, because it fulfills the very purpose of the GPL (presumably the reason why they chose it in the first place): to ensure that all users can have their freedoms respected, some of which require access to the source code. > There are no consequences. Someone who thought that depriving others of these freedoms was key to one's business would surely disagree. Add costs of legal proceedings and it may become even more serious. And then, nothing stops copyright holders from demanding more from the infringers, but that wouldn't be in line with the reasoning that often leads to licensing under the GPL, and it might very well backfire in the long run, if it scares businesses away from the GPL. We already have enough FUD, no need to make room for even more. -- Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/ Free Software Evangelist oliva@{lsd.ic.unicamp.br, gnu.org} FSFLA Board Member ¡Sé Libre! => http://www.fsfla.org/ Red Hat Compiler Engineer aoliva@{redhat.com, gcc.gnu.org} -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
