Wired Article on the GPL

[Chip Salzenberg]

According to W . Yip:
> So long as the GPL perpetuates further redistribution, it is
> possible that M has not obtained 'all rights, if any'.

[IANAL]

By releasing under the GPL, the original authors surrendered their
right to control GPL-compatible copying.  Having surrendered that
right, the original authors are not able to transfer it.

I seems to me that M has just paid money (a lot of money?  I dunno)
for the IP equivalent of the Brooklyn Bridge. [1]  All they really
purchased was the ability to create a prioprietary fork.

[1] For non-USAians: The Brooklyn Bridge used to be "sold" to gullible
    tourists through the semi-legal sale of 'any and all interest'
    that the con man held in the Bridge.  Which was, of course, zero.
-- 
Chip Salzenberg              - a.k.a. -              <chip at valinux.com>
"I wanted to play hopscotch with the impenetrable mystery of existence,
    but he stepped in a wormhole and had to go in early."  // MST3K