Eiffel Forum License

[Patrick Doyle]

On Sun, 30 Apr 2000, Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M. wrote:

> Someone, I have forgotten who, sorry, made an  interesting comment about the
> enforceability of GPLs, generally. I agree that it is an open question
> whether a court would enforce some public licenses. If a license lacks
> consideration, it's enforceability is dubious and some developers may
> violate the terms of the license knowing that the copyright holder has
> little chance of prevailing in court.

I must admit, I don't know about "consideration", but it seems to me that
the GPL is legally binding.  Copyright prevents someone making copies of
something without the author's permission.  Software licenses simply state
the terms under which the author will grant you such permission.  If you
break the license, then you have no permission to copy the software, under
copyright law.

Legally, you can do two things:

1. Adhere to the terms of the license.
2. Don't make copies of the software.

Is it not that simple?  (Please excuse my ignorance.  :-)

--
Patrick Doyle
doylep at ecf.toronto.edu