Hall: IBM, Red Hat and Free Software: An old maddog’s view

Posted Aug 3, 2023 8:56 UTC (Thu) by eduperez (guest, #11232)
In reply to: Hall: IBM, Red Hat and Free Software: An old maddog’s view by mb
Parent article: Hall: IBM, Red Hat and Free Software: An old maddog’s view

> The problem is that the company puts a clause into the business agreement that adds an option to terminate the agreement as a punishment for exercising GPL rights. This relation is why I think this is a further restriction of the GPL license.

The key point here is that RH is not adding any restriction over the GPL, *on the binaries or sources already distributed*. The customer receives the binaries and their sources, as stipulated by the GPL, without further restrictions on what they can do or not with those binaries and sources. On the other hand, there is a support contract, that RH can terminate at will, but that termination has no effect *on the binaries or sources already distributed*.

Hall: IBM, Red Hat and Free Software: An old maddog’s view

Posted Aug 3, 2023 9:19 UTC (Thu) by mb (subscriber, #50428) [Link] (4 responses)

>without further restrictions on what they can do or not with those binaries and sources.

Yes, they do restrict exactly that. The customer can choose either to not distribute the sources or to distribute them and loose support. Which makes it a further restriction. It's a direct coupling.

Hall: IBM, Red Hat and Free Software: An old maddog’s view

Posted Aug 3, 2023 17:13 UTC (Thu) by farnz (subscriber, #17727) [Link] (2 responses)

Right, but the customer has no right to support. They have a right to redistribute the sources, granted by the GPL, but their support is contingent on Red Hat's goodwill. And even if Red Hat stop support, they still have the sources, and can still distribute them.

The whole reason it's not an additional restriction is that what you lose is not something you have a right to under either copyright law or the GPL terms - it's something Red Hat offer as an addition on top of your rights.

To give you a fair analogy, if I said I'd run naked through the city centre every time you redistribute, that's an additional right granted to you. If I then say "but I don't like the way you're redistributing, I'm no longer going to run naked", that's not an additional restriction - that's removing something that I added on top of the GPL.

Hall: IBM, Red Hat and Free Software: An old maddog’s view

Posted Aug 3, 2023 17:48 UTC (Thu) by mb (subscriber, #50428) [Link] (1 responses)

>it's something Red Hat offer as an addition on top of your rights.

Nope. It's an offering in exchange for the customer's GPL rights. You can't have both at the same time. That's why it is a restriction.

(This is not legal advise)

Hall: IBM, Red Hat and Free Software: An old maddog’s view

Posted Aug 3, 2023 18:24 UTC (Thu) by farnz (subscriber, #17727) [Link]

How is it in exchange? You do not lose your GPL rights by taking up RH's support contract; you retain them, even if you later lose your RH support contract for breaching the terms of that contract.

Further, exercising your GPL rights does not automatically terminate your RH support contract; the specific clause for termination involves you using your support contract to give a third party the benefit of an RH subscription. Thus, you can distribute code using your GPL rights without losing your RH support subscription. If it was an exchange, you would not be able to do that at all - and yet you can, as long as (in RH's view) you're not giving a third party the benefits of your support subscription.

Hall: IBM, Red Hat and Free Software: An old maddog’s view

Posted Aug 4, 2023 5:52 UTC (Fri) by eduperez (guest, #11232) [Link]

On one hand, the customer signs a support contract, and a series of conditions that terminate such contract. On the other hand, the customer receives the binaries and their sources, according to the GPL license, with no strings attached. There are no restrictions on the rights granted by the GPL, there are some conditions to terminate the support contract.