Automatic GPL termination

Philippe Verdy verdy_p at wanadoo.fr
Fri Sep 14 18:57:53 UTC 2007


Alexander Terekhov [mailto:alexander.terekhov at gmail.com]wrote:
> I meant (hypothetically) future GPL version 6.6.6 or some such that
> would prescribe negative royalties. According to Philippe' logic, a
> distributor (me) will rightfully bankrupt him with no questions asked
> acting as a proxy in his name switching to new contract.

So you are speaking about something that still does not exist. Such change
in the GPL would make it incompatible with existing GPL rules. If it had to
be added, it could not be the same licence. The GPL licence has always been
provided free of charge (for any involved party), and without any warranty.
You are discussing about possible additional rights and restrictions, which
are currently not permitted with the GPL.

The GPL has been designed so that it allows anyone to distribute the covered
works free of charge too, without additional required restrictions.
Otherwise there would be no distributor for GPL works, and we would not even
discuss about it here: the GPL would have been a proprietary licence given
that it would have severely limited the distribution ofcovered works and
would have required user registration for handling fees and other due
payments.






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