[License-discuss] GPL and proprietary WebAPIs

[Lawrence Rosen]

Rick Moen wrote:
> You know, Clark:  Speaking for myself, I have no interest in advising
> querents about how closely they can lawfully skirt the requirements of
> copyleft licences, or how they can creatively circumvent those
> requirements entirely, in order to use copylefted properties in
> proprietary works.
> 
> You keep asking basically the same question, but are seeing scant
> interest in helping you.  Might be that my view is common.

Might be, but it is not unanimous. Indeed, I'm glad to advise companies how
to circumvent the *purported* and *frequently misunderstood* requirements of
the GPL.

My opinion of the GPL licenses is that they do not prohibit the use of
so-called "creative circumventions" to avoid having to disclose
non-derivative works, despite the desire of some to call it morally evil.
Linking GPL software to proprietary software is legal as long as one doesn't
create a derivative work. If GPL advocates insist upon distinguishing among
types of functional linking, then talented software engineers will avoid
disputes by building shims, APIs, or use dynamic linking to accomplish their
functional goals. More power to them!

/Larry


Lawrence Rosen
Rosenlaw & Einschlag, a technology law firm (www.rosenlaw.com) 
3001 King Ranch Road, Ukiah, CA 95482
Cell: 707-478-8932
Apache Software Foundation, board member (www.apache.org) 
Open Web Foundation, board member (www.openwebfoundation.org) 
Stanford University, Instructor in Law
Author, Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property
Law (Prentice Hall 2004)


> -----Original Message-----
> From: license-discuss-bounces at opensource.org [mailto:license-discuss-
> bounces at opensource.org] On Behalf Of Rick Moen
> Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 1:35 PM
> To: license-discuss at opensource.org
> Subject: Re: [License-discuss] GPL and proprietary WebAPIs
> 
> Quoting Clark C. Evans (cce at clarkevans.com):
> 
> > I found a tangible example of what I'm referring to, complete with
> > wonderful visuals.  Chris Kleisath at Sybase describes how they
> > circumvent the GPL license by using intermediate APIs to link
> > proprietary functionality with GPL licensed works.  Is Chris correct?
> > For GPLv2?  For GPLv3?
> >
> > http://iablog.sybase.com/kleisath/index.php/2009/02/how-to-interface-
> proprietary-code-with-gpl-code/
> 
> You know, Clark:  Speaking for myself, I have no interest in advising
> querents about how closely they can lawfully skirt the requirements of
> copyleft licences, or how they can creatively circumvent those
> requirements entirely, in order to use copylefted properties in
> proprietary works.
> 
> You keep asking basically the same question, but are seeing scant
> interest in helping you.  Might be that my view is common.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> License-discuss mailing list
> License-discuss at opensource.org
> http://projects.opensource.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/license-discuss