The Rails Wheels licencing system and Open Source

[Mark James]

Ben Tilly wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 3, 2008 at 10:48 PM, Mark James <mrj at advancedcontrols.com.au> wrote:
>> I guess this is a problem for a lot of software that only employs
>> an embedded GPL licence file.
> 
> Only if you choose to defend that software under contract law instead
> of copyright law.  The position of the FSF has always been that the
> GPL can be entirely enforced under copyright law, so no contract need
> be formed.  The recent Jacobsen v Kamind decision supports the
> viability of that position in the USA.
> 
> The key to making that possible is that the GPL does not affect you
> until you do something that puts you in potential violation of
> copyright.  So if someone fails to follow the license, you can hit
> them under copyright law.  What John was saying is that your
> restriction on making the code live does not follow this model.  If
> someone has received a legitimate copy, they can do anything they want
> without accepting your license.  So if they put it on a  live website
> they have violated no agreements they made, and they are not in
> violation of your copyright.  Which leaves you with no legitimate
> grounds for a lawsuit.

Thanks Ben, I didn't appreciate that subtlety.

The GPL is violated by binary-only re-distribution, which
is a violation of copyright. Perhaps I need to get advice
on whether SaaS can also be made a copyright violation, or
whether I have to ensure propagation of a contract agreement.

Mark