5 ms·

Yea. Pay someone to write it from scratch. Basically, it's practically (not ethically) fair game to use GPL in commercial software, until someone catches you.

Yea. Pay someone to write it from scratch. Basically, it's practically (not ethically) fair game to use GPL in commercial software, until someone catches you. The only repercussion that the license provides is that your license is revoked until you resolve the violation (for the first violation). Meanwhile, you got to release your product, and by the time you got caught you've had enough time to implement it yourself.

vlovich123 5y ago
That’s not the only repercussion. They can sue for copyright infringement and there can be large fines.
- johnebgd 5y ago
  Not a lawyer but seems like source projects would have a hard time showing damages since they don’t charge for the software.
  - woodruffw 5y ago
    I don't believe you need to demonstrate specific damages for a copyright infringement case in the US. You only need to demonstrate two facts: that you are the legitimate holder of the copyright, and that the other party did in fact infringe.
    - VRay 5y ago
      It's pretty funny that corporations can levy a multi-million dollar judgement against a single mother for pirating a CD, but then when the tables are turned, it's no big deal
  - drran 5y ago
    Suppose, I'm an author of GPL software. I think that my code costs $1M. I expected that if someone uses my software, according to license, then he will release his software under same license for me. Now, somebody used my $1M project in his $100M project in violation of my GPL license. My losses are $100M.
  - vlovich123 5y ago
    As others have said, penalties are not related to how much you charge for the product itself. For example, when you start illegally distributing music your penalty won't be retail cost * number of copies. There's multipliers & things that get applied. Basically your judge/jury will figure out the damages amount after you're found guilty (assuming you don't settle). This also makes sense when you factor in that retaining lawyer services to prosecute the infringement costs time and money (not to mention the court's time & resources to handle the case).
- kaetemi 5y ago
  Has anyone successfully done this for GPL licensed software?
Vinnl 5y ago
The authors of the software can create an additional licence that they could buy. Of course, that gets more difficult if there are many different, hard-to-contact authors.
- bragr 5y ago
  It's worth noting that this is why many commercially minded projects require you assign copyright to them before they'll accept your contributions.
  - Vinnl 5y ago
    Yep! Or just to switch licences in general, like LLVM is doing, as I pointed out https://fosstodon.org/@VincentTunru/107382361929521089 https://fosstodon.org/@VincentTunru/107382361929521089.

vlovich123 5y ago

That’s not the only repercussion. They can sue for copyright infringement and there can be large fines.

johnebgd 5y ago
Not a lawyer but seems like source projects would have a hard time showing damages since they don’t charge for the software.
- woodruffw 5y ago
  I don't believe you need to demonstrate specific damages for a copyright infringement case in the US. You only need to demonstrate two facts: that you are the legitimate holder of the copyright, and that the other party did in fact infringe.
  - VRay 5y ago
    It's pretty funny that corporations can levy a multi-million dollar judgement against a single mother for pirating a CD, but then when the tables are turned, it's no big deal
- drran 5y ago
  Suppose, I'm an author of GPL software. I think that my code costs $1M. I expected that if someone uses my software, according to license, then he will release his software under same license for me. Now, somebody used my $1M project in his $100M project in violation of my GPL license. My losses are $100M.
- vlovich123 5y ago
  As others have said, penalties are not related to how much you charge for the product itself. For example, when you start illegally distributing music your penalty won't be retail cost * number of copies. There's multipliers & things that get applied. Basically your judge/jury will figure out the damages amount after you're found guilty (assuming you don't settle). This also makes sense when you factor in that retaining lawyer services to prosecute the infringement costs time and money (not to mention the court's time & resources to handle the case).
kaetemi 5y ago
Has anyone successfully done this for GPL licensed software?

Vinnl 5y ago

The authors of the software can create an additional licence that they could buy. Of course, that gets more difficult if there are many different, hard-to-contact authors.

bragr 5y ago
It's worth noting that this is why many commercially minded projects require you assign copyright to them before they'll accept your contributions.
- Vinnl 5y ago
  Yep! Or just to switch licences in general, like LLVM is doing, as I pointed out https://fosstodon.org/@VincentTunru/107382361929521089 https://fosstodon.org/@VincentTunru/107382361929521089.