On Mon, 2002-04-08 at 15:15, Mark Evans wrote:
I was just curious in what way this reflected the license of the GPL software they are selling.. does witholding access to your ability to modify the program count as any sort of infringement? Does anyone know any more about RM's proxy server solution?
The GPL requires that they supply the source on demmand to anyone they supply the binary to.
It requires a little more than that. It requires that they either supply the source at the same time, or in place of the source they provide a written offer to supply the source, charging no more than copying costs, and valid for at least 3 years from the date of distribution. If they have not already done one of these, and there is GPLed software in the box, they are already in violation of the GPL. That could be quite bad for them, given this penalty clause in the GPL: Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. In other words, they lose all rights to distribute the software they violated on, permanently -- or at least until they are forgiven by the copyright holder. The fact that the FSF generally forgives anyone that makes best endeavours to clean up their act, should not be confused with the idea that all you have to do is give out the source to get away with a violation -- once you violate, you need to ask the copyright holder to give your halo back before you're allowed to touch the software again. Cheers, Phil. -- Say no to software patents! http://petition.eurolinux.org/ |)| Philip Hands [+44 (0)20 8530 9560] http://www.hands.com/ |-| HANDS.COM Ltd. http://www.uk.debian.org/ |(| 10 Onslow Gardens, South Woodford, London E18 1NE ENGLAND