Revocable GPL (Groklaw) [LWN.net]

Revocable GPL (Groklaw)

Posted Feb 4, 2008 2:40 UTC (Mon) by Max.Hyre (subscriber, #1054)
In reply to: Revocable GPL (Groklaw) by rahvin
Parent article: The Non-Revocable GPL (Groklaw)

From the GPL:

6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensor [....]

From rahvin, above:

The GPL specifically grants the rights (not IMPLIED, it's explicitly granted) to every licensee the right to not only issue new licenses automatically with every copy [....]

(In order to avoid getting lost in ``the party of the third part'' stuff, I'll try to clearly differentiate the actors.)

Alice is the author. She's the one who GPLed the program she wrote.
Bob is a downstream licensee. He's got a license to use the code. (Note that I'm not saying who gave him the license.)
Carol is the last grape on the vine. She just got a copy of the program from Bob.

OK, here's my confusion. It looks as if the GPL is ensuring that when Bob gives the code to Carol, Carol gets a new license from Alice. This means we have licenses from Alice running around everywhere there's a copy of the program. Licenses from Alice are being spontaneously generated.

But if I read you right, you're saying Bob can grant new licenses, so Alice is no longer involved. In that case, Alice's wishes are moot, since Bob's now the licensor.

But it looks to me that the GPL gives Bob no right to license the code. Am I confused, do they factor out to being the same thing in the end, or what?

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