The meaty part: > I have confirmed with our technical department who advised that to access the software download site the BMW Customer must provide the 7 di

The meaty part: > I have confirmed with our technical department who advised that to access the software download site the BMW Customer must provide the 7 digit VIN and accept the usage rights agreement. Part of the usage rights agreement states that the software is protected by copyright and BMW is the sole owner. So in this case it is not subject to the requirements of a "Public" licence. Which means that a user must prove they really are a user by inputting the digit code before getting to the code. Which is in line with the GPL. There is a 2nd, more real problem though: "the software is protected by copyright and BMW is the sole owner". This is wrong, this is where BMW makes fraudulent claims. From the license text: > You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice [and disclaimer of warranty]