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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I am not saying that,
reread, exactly : you are subject to the terms of the licence that COMES
WITH the covered work, as soon as you are exposed to it with that work.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Thez author may publish
something with a given version of the GPL and then ignore any other version and
could safely reject any further provision of the later version, as long as he
does not reuse in his software some other works coming to him from a third
party with that newer version.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>So anyone, including
authors, are liable only for the version of the GPL text that comes WITH the
covered work. The “any later version” sentence in the copyright
notice means nothing as long as you don’t agregagate the work with other
works, and if you are just republishing the work without modifiying it, you
have no obligation to upgrade the version of the GPL (but the GPL says that
you, as a distributor, are allowed to upgrade it with YOUR republication).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>But authors remain liable
for the version of the GPL that he chose to place his published work under, independently
of the “any further version” sentence that is included in the
copyright notice as an ADDITIONAL RIGHT (that remains optional according to the
GPL itself).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>But if someone else
receives a copy from a distributor that upgraded the version of the GPL without
modifying the work, this user is NOT allowed to downgrade the version of the
GPL for his own republication, unless he finds another allowed distributor (such
as from the original author himself) that publishes the same work under the
original licence with a lower version. So to downgrade a GPL version, you need
to prove yourself that the exact same work was published with that lower
version (and the only way to prove it safely is by trying to find the original
author or initial place of publication,something that should remain possible because
of the conservation of the copyright notice that includes an attribution of the
original author).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>If you can’t find
the original author or initial place of publication, then you can’t easily
prove that the lower version is valid, and so you cannot downgrade the version
of the GPL, and the only thing you can do is to trust the version of the GPL
that you received along with the covered work.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Proving an authorship can
be done by any legally recognized mean, including enough legal testimonies from
other people. This may be the only way if the author has disappeared or his
dead, but his author rights are still surviving and in the hands of its legal successors
(just finding a reference to the same work published on the web in a place that
cannot trace who placed the content on that server is not a proof, and finding
X references within a web search engine or automatic mirror is not a proof,
unless the mirror was legally built or permitted by the right owner himself,
for example by buying a web hosting space with a traceable commercial transaction
and a signed agreement with the hosting provider).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>De :</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> Chris Travers
[mailto:chris.travers@gmail.com] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Envoyé :</span></b> lundi 17 septembre
2007 23:21<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>À :</span></b>
license-discuss@opensource.org<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Objet :</span></b> Re: Automatic GPL
termination</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmailquote><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>On 9/17/07, <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Philippe
Verdy</span></b> <<a href="mailto:verdy_p@wanadoo.fr">verdy_p@wanadoo.fr</a>>
wrote:</span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Alexander Terekhov [mailto:<a href="mailto:alexander.terekhov@gmail.com">alexander.terekhov@gmail.com</a>]
wrote:<br>
> One just can't be a party to a contract that<br>
> isn't even drafted yet.<br>
<br>
Untrue. The licence is published, immutable, and publicly verifiable (unlike <br>
almost all contracts that are privately written). Because the contract is<br>
public, it can't be negociated between parties (it can only be accepted as a<br>
whole or rejected as a whole). For this reason the GPLpreexists as a written <br>
contract between the author and the public (this including every other<br>
user). It has already been accepted as valid by a very large number of users<br>
(and authors using it), much enough to prove that the contract is valid, <br>
because millions of people could assert that it exists in its current form.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
I don't think you are contradicting Alexander here. If I agree to make my
work available under the GPL v3 or later, this does not mean that sometime
after this, if the FSF adopts a new license with additional requirements on me
that I am automatically bound by them. GPL vX or later does not mean
"subject to additional obligations that the FSF may, from time to time, deem
appropriate..." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
In short I don't think there is much disagreement on this point.<br>
<br>
Best Wishes,<br>
Chris Travers<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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