Dual-Licensing Situation

[Joshua J. Kugler]

On Saturday 07 June 2008, AR said something like:
> Federico Di Gregorio wrote:
> > Il giorno ven, 06/06/2008 alle 09.51 -0400, AR ha scritto:
> >> I don't think your analogy is an accurate representation of the
> >> situation.
> >
> > What you don't understand is that they are the copyright holders so
> > they can do what they want. _they_ are not bound by the GPL.
>
> They are bound by the GPL because they released their copyrighted
> code under the GPL.

I believe that is the foundation of this whole line of conversation, and 
it is wrong. The fact is, it is STILL their own code, so they are not 
bound by the GPL.  They can still do whatever they want with it. The 
GPL applies to all those who use it.

Imagine this analogy.  The code sits in their code repository. While it 
sits there, it is "licenseless," just a pile of Proprietary 
Intellectual Property.  When it is copied out of the repository, a 
license is applied to it.  On one copy of the code, they apply the 
GPL2. On another copy, they apply a proprietary license.  Those are now 
two separate code bases with two separate licenses.

Now, do they have to honor all conditions of the GPL2 if they do 
anything development or extension of the code licensed as GPL2? Yes, 
but they still have all the original code in their repository that has 
no license (which is where they do their development, I'm sure), and on 
which the GPL2 has no effect.  Thus, they can do anything with their 
proprietary code and "unlicensed" code that they choose because the 
GPL2 has not touched it.

So, in the end, they are not at all bound by the GPL2 on their own code, 
and can add any restriction they want to the purchase of the 
Proprietary license.  It's not a restriction on the GPL2 code, it's an 
additional condition that must be satisfied to purchase the Proprietary 
code.  Silly? Yes. Unethical? Possibly. Bad business sense? Sure. 
Legal?  Absolutely.

j

-- 
Joshua Kugler
Part-Time System Admin/Programmer
http://www.eeinternet.com
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