Quoting Bruce Perens <[email protected]>:
Bad example, but, let's say someone requests something that I did 2
years ago, and I no longer support it. In order to get the source,
I have to get it from off site storage, restore it, and then get it
to you. If that happens to take me a few weeks, I wouldn't think
it was unreasonable.
Imagine a film company waiting patiently in court until you could
find the right files to cure an infringement of their property.
The key difference, to my mind, in these two examples, is that, in
Bruce's example, there is an already-established "infringement of
their property", whereas, in Thomas' there is not yet an established
infringement. That is the very question at the heart of the
discussion, as I understand it: if I make a written offer, how long do
I have to supply the source code before my failure to do so would be
interpreted as a failure to comply with the conditions of GNU GPL 2.0,
such that, by failing to comply with the licence terms, my
distribution infringes copyright?
I am not sure that the two situations above are analagous.
However (and I am musing now), this discussion presupposes that
failure to provide the source code *does* lead to copyright
infringement.
The requirement of GNU GPL 2.0, s3(b), is that Company A, which is
distributing a product containing covered code, must, if using the
"written offer" route, accompany distribution of the binary with a
written offer.
Let us assume that Company A has included a written offer with their
product, saying "Company A will give the complete corresponding source
code for $product to any third party seeking it, for $1. Contact
$address".
Company A has satisfied its obligation under the licence: it has made
a written offer.
With what section of the licence does Company A fail to comply if it
does not subsequently send the source code to someone asking for it?
Or would the requesting party need to establish some sort of direct
relationship by virtue of Company A having made an offer, such as
breach of contract?
Neil
--
Neil Brown
[email protected] | http://neilzone.co.uk
