[PD-ot] Re: Using Copyright WAS: Re: [PD-dev] Political Impropriety

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

On Jan 9, 2006, at 7:46 AM, Frank Barknecht wrote:

> Hallo,
> Hans-Christoph Steiner hat gesagt: // Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
>
>>
>> If you made copies on one machine, and the software in question never
>> left that one machine, you might be able to get away with not  
>> releasing
>> your changes.  But   in practice, if an organization uses software,
>> they are going to copy and distribute it.
>
> No, it isn't, at least not in the view of the FSF. Actually that and a  
> lot of
> other things are covered in the GPL-FAQ:
>
>   Is making and using multiple copies within one organization or  
> company
>   "distribution"?
>
>    No, in that case the organization is just making the copies for  
> itself. As a
>    consequence, a company or other organization can develop a modified  
> version and
>    install that version through its own facilities, without giving the  
> staff
>    permission to release that modified version to outsiders.
>
>    However, when the organization transfers copies to other  
> organizations or
>    individuals, that is distribution. In particular, providing copies  
> to
>    contractors for use off-site is distribution.
>
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#InternalDistribution
>

I stand corrected.

I think the GPL 3 will cover a related topic.  The aim is to force  
sharing of internally modified GPL software that is used to power  
publically accessible services like websites.  But only for that  
specific situation.

.hc

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