Exactly this. Francis would be deeply in the wrong in any court in the US (and, I presume, Canada) for unilaterally publishing their source code, even if requir

Exactly this. Francis would be deeply in the wrong in any court in the US (and, I presume, Canada) for unilaterally publishing their source code, even if required by the GPL. They can be forced to do so, but only by the courts. As for HR, they really should have handled this very differently. Ling should have been fired along with Lee for disclosing his veto to Lee, who then bragged about it. Francis should have been given the promotion he earned. If I were in their shoes now, I'd give him the severance package he wants unless he quits on his own—involutary termination of any sort should trigger the package.