[PD] Percolate

[Chris McCormick]

On Wed, Mar 07, 2007 at 11:36:11PM -0500, marius schebella wrote:
> Chris McCormick wrote:
> >It would be good to find out what the legal status of code
> >that is illegally licensed. 
> 
> the default is that software is copyright protected. and the owner has 
> the exclusive right to reproduce, sell, license it.

Yes of course. But if they are linking with GPL software there are some
restrictions as to what they can do with their own copyright code. Sure,
they can reproduce, sell, and license their own code, but they cannot
include the GPL software with that if they are violating the terms of
the GPL. They cannot license their own copyright code with a license
that violates the GPL if they are using GPL code linked to their own
code.

What does it mean if they violate the GPL and do so anyway? What does it
mean for people who use the software?

It's confusing, which is why a real lawyer is needed to answer these
questions.

Best,

Chris.

-------------------
chris at mccormick.cx
http://mccormick.cx