On Tue, Oct 21, 2003 at 09:17:13AM -0400, Aaron wrote: > Tom <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said, > > On Sat, Oct 18, 2003 at 10:34:52PM +0800, Dasn Cups wrote: > > > Hi, all. > > > I know little about License...:) > > > > > > If I use GNU's source code in my project but don't open my source, who will > > > punish me? > > > > > > > Nobody, as long as you don't give it to anyone. > > > > I have a question, too. What if you adapt the code, for example porting > some functionality into a different language such that the syntax is > different, but the results are the same? Is that protected by the > license as well, or is that an acceptable derivation?
I expect if you use an autogen tool to do it, it's a violation, but if you do it by hand that's the same as copying look and feel, which the courts (such as in Apple v. Microsoft) have stated is okay. > > Also, what constitutes "distribution"? If it is a web-based system > wherein the functionality is distributed through access to the site but > the source code package itself isn't distributed, does the license > compel the author to offer the source code? > > IANAL, so I'm just curious. > My intitutive understanding would be any time it passes between two legally-defined persons. (A corporation is a single-legally defined person.) I don't know what the precedent for letting onsite contractors use licensed software. To be honest, nothing means jack shit until it's been litigated and there are precedents. I do not have high hopes of judges enforcing the GPL when it is really tested. As Frank Zappa said: "In the fight between you versus the world, back the world." -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
