Re: Possible GPL Violation of Linux in Amstrad's E3 Videophone

[Valdis . Kletnieks]

On Fri, 01 Oct 2004 17:40:07 -0000, jmerkey@xxxxxxxxxxx said:

> Oops.  Too late.  Linux has a huge trail of everyone's code under the GPL so you cannot
> re-release the code under another license unless the entire code base is re-written.  So 
> anyone can fork it at any point and claim, "we never accepted the license even though 
> we download and use the code.  Guess what, this is legally valid to say and totally 
> circumvents the GPL, they just have to leave your copyright notices in place.

Umm.. It's OK to take the GPL'ed source and make your own fork for your own
amusement.  Trying to distribute it without accepting the GPL on the parts
you're shipping copies of *is* a problem. As the COPYING file says:

  5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
signed it.  However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or
distribute the Program or its derivative works.  These actions are
prohibited by law if you do not accept this License.  Therefore, by
modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the
Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and
all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying
the Program or works based on it.

So you have three choices: You can accept the terms of the GPL, and comply
with them, or you can not ship those pieces covered by the GPL (basically
the entire kernel), or you can ship it in violation and wait for the hate
mail to start arriving.....

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