Interesting question. The GPL was first published in 1989. Let's assume it was first used for something Stallman wrote, by himself, with no other authors. Stall

Interesting question. The GPL was first published in 1989. Let's assume it was first used for something Stallman wrote, by himself, with no other authors. Stallman is 67 now. US male average life expectancy gives him about another 10 years (sorry to be morbid). Current US copyright law means his work is under copyright for 70 years after he passes away. So that's about 80 years from now, or in 2100 the first-ever GPL program can be distributed in binary form without its source, as it was written in 1989. What a gift to the public domain. US copyright law is utterly broken.