GPL license and timeout

[Phil Jaquet]

Hi all:

 

I did search Usenet as well as the web and can't determine whether the following is legal or not:

 

1) Download the source code of a Windows application subject to the GPL license (Gnucleus for example.)

2) Make improvements to the original source code and add code that will ask for an unlock key after 30 days of usage (similarly to a shareware application, the user would have to pay to get such an unlock key.)

3) Compile this modified source code, package it with a Windows installer, display the GPL license text and provide an http link to the modified source code (pointing to a zip file on my web site.)

4) Publish the binary on my web site and various download sites.

5) Release the modified source code on my web site.

6) Sell registration keys on the web via a company like RegNow.

 

Here are the reference materials I could find:

* GPL license: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

* Selling free software: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html

* GPL FAQ: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html

* Software categories (includes shareware): http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html

* Licenses: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html

* Gnutella Gold: http://www.gnutellagold.com/ - seems to repackage LimeWire (according to the screenshot) or Gnucleus (according to http://www.gnucleus.net/general/clones.html) and sell it

 

If I understand the GPL license correctly, it sounds like what I am describing in steps 1 to 6 is legal. Whether it is ethical or makes business sense or not is an entirely different issue (for example someone could and probably would release the source and binaries of the application without the 30-day timeout restriction, the original team would probably be angry.)

 

By the way I am aware that a BSD or MIT/X-style license allows for this.

 
Thank you for any comments, explanations, and pointers - no flames please.


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