GPLv3 doesn't say that

Posted Sep 23, 2006 13:18 UTC (Sat) by coriordan (guest, #7544)
In reply to: GPLv3 doesn't say that by Felix_the_Mac
Parent article: Kernel developers' position on GPLv3

The condition/requirement/restriction is on distribution, not use. Any recipient of the software, including a device manufacturer, can use (as in, run, execute) the software without restriction. When they distribute (give a copy to someone else), they have requirements.

v2 said that requirements were to make the source code available, and to make the recipient aware of the licence. v3 adds to this list that there is also a requirement to make sure that if there are technical measures which might prohibit modification, then the recipient must have what is necessary to avoid being restricted by that.

This is why I say there is no use requirements. If you define "use" in a really broad way that includes distribution, then there are some relevent restrictions in v3, but this is also true of v2.