Not all kernel modules need to be GPL; that's why there's a license field for modules at all (if everything needs to be GPL, then the license would be implied).

Not all kernel modules need to be GPL; that's why there's a license field for modules at all (if everything needs to be GPL, then the license would be implied). The issue here is that nVidia wants at least part of their module to not be open source, but _also_ wants access to functionality that's been marked as only allowed to be access by GPL modules (the typical assumption is that, in order to use those, your code already needs to be tied deeply enough that you're a derived work). Note: based off things I've gleaned from LWN and places.