Questions tagged [gpl]
GNU General Public License
10
questions
10
votes
2
answers
486
views
At what point and how should I change the license/Copyright notice when I create a derivative?
If I take a piece of software that is licensed as MIT (quoted at the end), and use it as a scaffold to create for my own thing, do I need to keep including the old license perpetually? This would seem ...
- 201
2
votes
1
answer
66
views
Implications of changing terms of a free license (LGPL, Apache, MIT, Eclipse, etc) after I started using software on old terms
While creating my software (as a developer / startup owner) I rely on the fact that I can use some (software) library for free. I also rely on the fact that I can use it for commercial purpose and ...
- 121
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Is it legal to rewrite a Java (OpenJDK) library into another programming language under GPL?
Is it legal for me to re-implement a Java library in another programming language under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2 (text)?
I would mimic their exact API (package, class, and ...
- 187
1
vote
1
answer
86
views
Can the permission to implement a specification be restricted?
Let's say I invent a new image file format and release the specification to the public. Is it possible to only allow GPL projects to implement this specification?
Or is this not possible in the U.S.? (...
- 549
4
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Is it legal for manufacturers to lock bootloaders on Android phones?
Some backgroud :
A bootloader is a very low level piece of software that runs first and loads an operating system of some other tool. On a lot of new Android devices the bootloader is "locked", that ...
- 143
3
votes
1
answer
303
views
What are the potential legal consequences for a company that has GPL violations?
In the news recently was that the smartphone company Xiaomi has not released the kernel source code for its Android phone that has been on the market for over 3 months. Since Android is based on the ...
- 2,028
2
votes
2
answers
403
views
Is it a GPLv3 violation for a project to charge a fee for downloading binaries?
Is it a GPLv3 violation for a project to charge a fee for downloading binaries?
Concretely I am wondering about this case: http://moodeaudio.org/
The project is clearly licenced under GPLv3 as stated ...
- 123
2
votes
2
answers
124
views
Does incorporation of open-source (GPL-licenced) software by freelancers violate Upwork T&C?
Some widely used open-source software is distributed under restrictive licences: for instance, the R language uses GPL v.2/v.3. This and other copyleft licences impose several obligations, such as the ...
- 505
2
votes
1
answer
121
views
GPL and private sale
If a company sells a device containing GPL licensed code they need to provide the source code when asked.
Does this apply to private sales, e.g. if I sell an used device that I bought on ebay, would ...
- 318
1
vote
1
answer
106
views
"GPL version N or later"-licensed code and publishing an EULA as GPL v4
Oftentimes source code is licensed as "GPL version N or later". But what stops some company from taking their EULA, publishing it as GPL version 4 and happily using whatever code they want to use in a ...
- 121