Re: Dangerous precedent being set - possible serious violation of the GPL
On Sat, 27 Nov 1999, Richard Stallman wrote:
> to adults, or only people with red hair, that is ok. Asking people to
> agree that they will use the software only in accord with the license
> is ok, provided the license is a free software license.
>
> If the license is a free software license, then it permits you to put
> the software on your own ftp site and allow anyone to copy it. So
> that is a thing you could "do about" the situation.
>
> You sent me only part of the page. The rest of the page may have some
> sort of problem. For instance, the license may not qualify as a free
> software license. Alternatively, if this text refers to a specific
> license, and if the software it purports to cover is GPL-covered, and
> if the specific license contradicts the GPL, that would be a violation
> of the GPL. I have, at present, insufficient evidence to know whether
> either of these is the case.
>
I'm including the full text below. What I find particularly odious is
not the exclusion of minors (though it is odious), but the contention (as
usual in purported EULAs) that Corel still retains title to the copy of
the software downloaded, whether it's under GPL or not. The problem is,
that if they retain ownership, they (or someone else later down the road)
may attempt to circumvent the GPL by claiming the downloaders never owned
a copy, and therefore the license does not apply to them. I, for one,
would like to see some kind of formal (and if necessary legal) opposition
to this pretense (for I do see it as a pretense and neither legal nor
enforceable - IANAL, YMMV) to clarify this problem for the future and any
opportunists who think they may have a loophole to exploit.
The difference between this "license" and the GPL or other free software
licenses, is that the latter is a copyright license, and the former is
not (or, rather, is a "license" for permitting what is fair use of one's
copy anyway).
Corel should segregate all non-free software in their distribution and
then limit the pretense to that software, leaving only the
warranty/liability disclaimers intact for the free part.
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> I will send mail now to fetch the URL you mentioned. Meanwhile, could
> you or someone determine for me whether specific GNU packages such as
> GCC and GNU Emacs are included in the software that this question
> applies to?
>
>
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