Not So Simple [LWN.net]

Not So Simple

Posted Dec 4, 2003 17:49 UTC (Thu) by ncm (subscriber, #165)
In reply to: Not So Simple by piman
Parent article: The GPL Is a License, not a Contract

No. The GPL doesn't give you the right to extend their permission to anybody else. (That would be a power of attorney.) Everybody who gets a copy from you gets it under their license. If they withdraw the license, your permission to distribute more copies ends. The permission of other people who have copies also ends, although they can keep the copies they have.

Any copies you have distributed are still legal; the copyright holder can't retract that. But future publication is controlled by the latest license you know about. (It's probably their problem to make sure you know about the new license; they might have to send you certified mail before it's binding.)

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Not So Simple

Posted Dec 4, 2003 17:59 UTC (Thu) by amikins (guest, #451) [Link]

I don't believe that's correct; one of the points of the GPL is that it can't be retracted. So someone who has received something that was licensed under the GPL lawfully (that is, all the people doing the licensing had right to do so) can still distribute, no matter what someone farther up the chain may be yelling. It was licensed, the GPL doesn't have any mention of being revocable, and the standard GPL says at *YOUR* discretion a new license (specifically stated to be a newer version of the GPL) may apply.

'Your' in this case meaning the licensee, not licensor. So if you change your mind later, you're kinda out of luck.

Not So Simple

Posted Dec 4, 2003 18:18 UTC (Thu) by ncm (subscriber, #165) [Link]

Where does anything say that a license can't be retracted? Thus far nobody has cited anything stronger than their own fervent wish.

The law certainly allows you to retract permission for the use of your property any time, subject to any contractual obligations you have entered into. If there's no contract, there are no obligations on the copyright holder.

Not So Simple

Posted Dec 5, 2003 21:11 UTC (Fri) by freethinker (guest, #4397) [Link]

Section 0:

This License applies to any program or other work which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program", below, refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program" means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you".

To me this says that as long as the notice is there, you're licensed. If you redistribute, as long as the recipients' copies have the notice, they're licensed. And so on, as long as anyone has a copy.