RE: List of shame

Jan0815 <[email protected]> 24 Aug 2003 18:35:06 -0000
Newsgroups gmane.comp.web.oscommerce.gpl
Message-ID <49525ff51b8ff826e7a0549fe8869d32@osCommerce-Forums>
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[quote="Wayne Luke"]Nothing they can do as long as the sites don't have the same layout and colors as the default install and the copyright is left in the sourcecode.[/quote]

Well - we can do a bit more - and we do. Please read our copyright policy in the FAQ, it tells quite exact at what situation we will take appropriate action. Copyright violation is a crime, GPL violation is (at the very least) a license vialtion that results in immediate termination of the right to use the GPLed software.

[quote]Such is the GPL. You have no control over derivatives or how other's resell your work. With the GPL, you assign all rights to them as well.[/quote]

Not 100% true. By using the GPL we merley license the use of osCommerce. This does not affect in any way the copyright on the code. We do not give away our copyright - changing the copyright notices would be a crime. All derivative work based on osCommerce MUST BE RELEASED under the GPL. So there is no way to re-license osCommerce under a different (proprietary) licesnse. A change of license can only be possible when the holder of the copyright agrees. And as we do not assign the copyright to any user of soCommerce, a re-licensing can only occur when osCommerce team woudl agree (no, they would not ;-).

Licensing issues are not simple stuff - agreed.

Jan Wildeboer