County, Allsing, Bandersnatch

der.hans plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
Thu, 4 Jul 2002 16:33:47 -0700 (MST)


Am 04. Jul, 2002 schwätzte Robert Bushman so:

> If they give the apps to employees within their
> organization, don't they have to give those
> employees Free access to the source code?

No. Explicitly not. The organization is distributing code to itself as an
orgnization. Employees are agents of the org, so do not qualify as
individual entities with regards to distribution. I verified this with RMS
last year when he was in town.

> I reached this interpretation when looking at a
> Java graphing library that was GPL. My job is
> working on a thick-client CRM app. It's entirely
> internal to the organization, but my impression
> was that the employees would still have to have
> Free (including redistribution privs) access
> to the source code if I linked the library.

No, they do not. They cannot use the GPL to require your employer to provide
them with the source code.

ciao,

der.hans
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