GPL Infectiousness

[Robert Bushman]

On 3 Oct 2002, Derek Neighbors wrote:

> > True, if I can track back the entire chain of contributors to a GPLed
> > commodity then I can contract for each to supply his or her own contribution
> > on commercial terms.
> > 	But in many cases this is not practical.  GPL is designed so that over time
> > getting a clear commercially viable contract for any significant GPL product
> > becomes virtually impossible thanks to the tangled web of contributions and
> > dependencies.
>
> Poor copyright management is problematic regardless of licensing.

Thank you Derek - this is the one piece of Trent's
rhetoric that I couldn't solve.  Seems obvious now
that you say that.

If a piece of software is comprised of, say, ten
components, and each component must be licensed
individually, it is less practical than the same
software with a single license holder.  It has
nothing to do with what type of license it is.

Suppose, for example, that someone writes a spreadsheet
(A) for doing commodity options pricing.  Someone
else adds a dependant spreadsheet (B) that specifies
spreadsheet A for metals.  A third person writes a
spreadsheet (C) that specifies B for precious metals.
A fourth person writes a spreadsheet (D) that specifies
C for platinum.  You have an end product that is just
as hard to license for commercial resale regardless of
whether each component spreadsheet is licensed under
a "no resale" license which must be negotiated
independently or a "no proprietization" license which
must be negotiated independently.


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