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19982: Re: [MUD-Dev] GPL (was:Libs for 3D Client/Servers)
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From: "Bobby Martin" <bobbymartin@hotmail.com>
Newsgroups: nu.kanga.list.mud-dev
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 15:48:46
Organization: Kanga.Nu
Max wrote:
> ghovs wrote:
>> I've actually heard of people releasing stuff under GPL for
>> non-profit use, and allowing anyone planning something else to
>> negotiate a commercial license.
> You can't do that with GPL. If you're releasing code under GPL you
> grant certain rights to all other parties without difference if
> they are non-profit users or companies. You can require payment
> for your source code but since whoever would buy it could
> distribute it without limits it's pointless.
This is not true. There is benefit to being able to re-release under a
different license code that you have released under the GPL.
Assume I run Fantastic Adventures, a company that produces a commercial
MMORPG. I see the need for an easy to use messaging system that is fast and
has low throughput for client to server communications. I see ARMI
(shameless plug), a GPL SourceForge project to do just that. I can't use
the GPL code in my client, since I want to release the client without
releasing the source code. However, if I can contact all of the owners of
the copyright on ARMI, I can negotiate the same code under a different
license which would allow me to use it in my product without making my
product open source. Thus, I pay those copyright holders and obtain the
code under a license that lets me do whatever I want with it.
Bobby Martin
Cosm Development Team
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