On Mar 13, 2007, at 8:28 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > -------------- Original message -------------- > From: Tim Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> But we are as close to experts as you can be on the GPL. Before we >> started producing BRU for Linux (1994), we paid a rather well placed >> IP legal team to clarify the religious document that is the GPL-2 >> into something that more closely resembled a true license. The >> results is very simple - if you use any portion of a GPL code base >> within your application, your application is now legally bound to the >> GPL itself. > > What if instead of making a plug-in you translated a few GPL C > code algorithms into RB as part of a module? Would that then GPL > your app?
Karen - very interesting that you asked that question because we actually asked a very similar one of the lawyers. It is a fine line that you walk if that's the path that you take. If the code that you are transferring into RB is general C/C++ (or other) that was produced based on a defined, public RFC (for example), then there's a probability that you could claim that you were simply implementing the RFC in RB code. However, if the code you're translating has the GPL author's unique spin on solving the issue represented, then our legal team recommended that we contact the author and get a specially licensed release that completely removed our use's dependence on the GPL - better safe than sorry. As I stated in that previous email, an author of original code that is currently released under GPL may provide an alternative license to specific users for specific purposes without changing the original code's release under the GPL. Ted Tso does this with the EXT2 filesystem code - the primary code is GPL, but he has also provided a commercially licensed version of the code to folks like Quest to enable EXT2 support within products like Partition Magic. Also, just as a CYA statement, I am not a lawyer. The statements that I make here are based upon the guidance that my organization received from an IP legal team concerning the GPL and how it relates to commercial endeavors. Please contract your own legal representation if these questions could actually affect your commercial processes. Tim -- Tim Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Unsubscribe or switch delivery mode: <http://www.realsoftware.com/support/listmanager/> Search the archives: <http://support.realsoftware.com/listarchives/lists.html>
