Re: Economics and the GPL

Matt Seitz <[email protected]> wrote:
> > But they can't stop you from using their GPL verbatim, whatever the terms,
> > and then blatently violating those terms.  After all, as the copyright holder,
> > you're the one with the standing to enforce those terms, not the FSF, and you're 
> > not likely to sue yourself for compliance, are you?
> But the FSF is the copyright holder on the GPL.  Any unauthorized copying of
> the GPL, modified or not, would be a violation of the FSF's copyright.

the *only* way you can have "unauthorized copying" of the GPL is to change it.
From the GPL itself:
 "Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed."

> > However, [reducing copyright length] is an uphill battle against
> > powerful entrenched interests, so it's hard to win this one.
> Which is probably the FSF's justification for such a hard-line,
> take-no-prisioners approach.

If that were their intent, they would have time-limited the GPL.  

-r