Re: Re: GPL/LGPL

Brian F. G. Bidulock wrote:
> On Tue, 05 Dec 2006, Ole Husgaard wrote:
>> As for your "license termination" against Dave: This is not that easy
>> with the GPL and LGPL license, as you would have known if you had asked
>> a copyright lawyer who know these licenses. It is, however, quite easy
>> to force somebody to adhere to the terms of the GPL or LGPL under the
>> copyright law of almost all countries in the world.
> 
> Are you a lawyer?  I'm not, but this passage reads pretty clear to me:
> 
>     4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
>   except as expressly provided under this License.  Any attempt
>   otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is
>   void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.

The misunderstanding is that the "terminate" in the above quote
isn't permanent and isn't a result of an expression of an author's
wishes (such as your e-mail notification of termination).  For
example, in the Fortinet case, the court imposed an injunction
"banning them from further distribution of their products until
they are in compliance with the GNU GPL conditions".  Fortinet
today distributes products using GPL code.  The difference is
that they started including a copy of the licence and making
source available.

Regards,
	Steve

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