Re: comparison of public licenses?

I think we are in agreement. GPLs are laudable efforts, but they raise some concerns.

You seem to indicate that there may be problem areas with the broad definition that the GPL provides for source code. I tend to think similarly, but would argue that the potentially more serious problem is with how the GPL sweeps in subsequent modifications of the original source code as derivative works. The ultimate concern is the same; namely, that if an open source project were ambitious enough, the GPL would have the effect of allowing the project organizer/owner or original copyright holder to implacably acquire copyright interests in other works. The difficulty being in where the line drawing should occur.

I was not attempting to offend by using Linux as an example. Let's try another.

X.Org is the worldwide consortium empowered with the stewardship and collaborative development of the X Window System technology and standards (based on the X11R6 specification). The Open Group is the organization that has been assigned copyright (I believe from MIT) in the X Window system open source project.

X Windows is system-architecture neutral network-transparent window system and user interface, or you might simply say it was a windows interface for UNIX. Of course, it is a lot more than that now. In fact, there is an X Windows for many different platforms, including MS Windows. My concern is this: if the Open Group owns the copyright in all X Windows system software offered by the more than 15 independent distributors, then this aggregation of copyright interests in a single entity raises potentially significant issues. This is particularly so if the terms of the GPL were subsequently altered to be more favorable for the copyright owner (e.g., impose royalty fees). Of course, this is certainly not the goal of copyleft, but the copyright owner is not precluded from altering the terms of the GPL.

Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.
http://www.cyberspaces.org/
rod[_at_]cyberspaces.org Received on Mon Jan 31 2000 - 21:32:35 GMT