IANAL, but this is how I understand it: The GPL only means that you can read, run, change, and distribute code. It does not affect copyright. The individuals/c

IANAL, but this is how I understand it: The GPL only means that you can read, run, change, and distribute code. It does not affect copyright. The individuals/companies working on a GPL program still retain their copyright for each bit of code contributed (authored). Because of that, copying code into a completely different program without consent of each author can be problematic. In addition, only the authors can sue to enforce the license. This is why the FSF requires contributors to assign copyright to the FSF: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-assign.en.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-assign.en.html