On Tue, 26 Apr 2005
Bryan.ONeal@asu.edu wrote:
> Just out of curiosity, If I base a commercial project on a GPL project
> 1) Are their any restrictions on profits generated?
> 2) If I never sell or otherwise distribute my code do I have to release my
> code?
>
> Example: If I set up a database of education institutions with licensed slides
> of famous art, and then charged for membership so these institutions could
> distribute their work to each other. And 30% of the code I used came from a
> dead source forge project. Or the model (either the business model or the
> site/code model) came from a dead open source project. Would I have to
> release my code under the GPL? And what does release entail?
>
> And if I did not use GPL models, but I have been known to read GPL models can
> some one who latter finds a similar GPL model sue me (or more importantly my
> customers) to open said code under the assumption that I may have seen said
> model and inadvertently integrated its concepts into my work?
Frist, I am not a lawyer, you should probably seek legal council on most
of these type of things so that someone can take your specific situation
into account.
In general, the GPL says that if you distribute a binary of the code, you
must also distribute the source. For instance, if I was to change the
source code, and then give you a copy of the compiled program, I must make
the source available to you.
Now, as far as delivering a service using an open source tool -- currently
that does not constitute distributing the program. It is rumored this may
change in GPL v3. If you modify a GPL Apache module, but never give
anyone the binary, you aren't responsible to give them the source.
Source code in general is protected by copyright, which protects a
specific implementation of an idea. This is similr to the idea of a
star-crossed lover. If you wrote a book where the love interests weren't
able to get together because of societal issues, you wouldn't owe
Shakespere money. This is a very fine line, and one I'd be careful with.
I would definitely recommend implementing in another language if possible.
In conclution, it probably isn't a good idea to try and do a "proprietary"
fork of any open source project. If you add features, and other people
add features, then you've got a greater whole than either of you could
have created. In very few cases is that your competative advantage, it
sounds like, in your case, that your real competative advantage is the
data that you're collecting. I'd strongly recommend working on your
project in an open fasion.
--Ted
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