Law Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [gpl]

GNU General Public License

The GNU General Public License is a free software license, conferring the rights of use, distribution, and modification of the software.

The GPL requires that the program continues to be distributed under the same license, and has been crucial to the development of systems such as Linux.

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Do I really have to Open Source my project?

I'm currently working on a software which uses another software under the GPL version 3 license: https://github.com/ViaVersion/ViaVersion/blob/dev/LICENSE Now someone just came to me and said I have to Open Source my project or I can get in…
Daniel
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How long does a GPL licencee have to respond to a source code request before it becomes a GPL violation?

I have requested source code for a product that contains software licensed under GPL 2. The product includes a written offer to provide source code if you send a written request by email. The offer is valid for three years. But I have gotten no…
Богдан Туренко
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Relicensing software under GPLv2+ without all contributors

I have software licensed under GPLv2, which I would like to relicense under GPLv2+. Unfortunately, I an unable to contact some of the contributors. Can I proceed, or am I stuck?
dsolimano
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At what point and how should I change the license/Copyright notice when I create a derivative?

If I take a piece of software that is licensed as MIT (quoted at the end), and use it as a scaffold to create for my own thing, do I need to keep including the old license perpetually? This would seem ridiculous (although the law may see it…
Shwouchk
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GPLv3-licensed project on Github seems to try to restrict commercial use

I found an interesting project (tool for numerical simulations) on Github with the following paragraph in its README: You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 as published by the Free…
UweD
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Who can publish GPLv4?

I was thinking about the or later part that is often used in licensing software. When reading https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html, I've found this: The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the GNU General Public…
graywolf
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Copyright in copyleft licence?

Is the copyright mentioned in GPL v3 used just for the sake of defining the word? (It's not copyrighted, but the word encompasses the same actions that would violate the copyright if it was copyrighted.) To “propagate” a work means to do anything…
Martin
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Can I bundle Apache 2.0 licensed components in a GPL 3 licensed project?

I am creating a project that I would like to open source and license under the GPL 3 License. The project will come with a bundled version of an open source component which is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license. Can I bundle Apache 2.0 licensed…
Wojtek
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Advantage in being first to copyleft a new algorithm?

Say I have created a new (DSP) algorithm. Will I have some advantage if I open source the algorithm under copyleft licence (GPL etc.)? From what I know about licensing this should lock people out from using the exactly same code as closed source,…
Kozuch
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How to enforce GPL if the copyright holder doesn't have access to the source code of violating software?

I'd like to publish a C library project that I have written on GitHub and license it under GPL, so I am doing some research on open source licenses and some confusion comes to mind. Let's say Evil Corps uses and modifies my code in a commercial…
lawandorders
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Can I use my own Open Source code in commercial software I'm writing?

If I release some code that I wrote myself with an Open Source license (a WordPress plugin with the GPL2 license, https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html), can I then use my own code in commercial software? thanks
AaronJ
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Is it legal for manufacturers to lock bootloaders on Android phones?

Some backgroud : A bootloader is a very low level piece of software that runs first and loads an operating system of some other tool. On a lot of new Android devices the bootloader is "locked", that means that it checks if the digital signature of…
potato
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Is a copyright license a real right (right in rem)?

From having read some law articles and texts, I understand that a real right (or right in rem) is a right in someone else's property, but that like full ownership grants a right of opposability to any third party in case of damage/tort, and it runs…
endyx
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What are the rules for selling my own software that includes other GPLv2 software

I've programmed some software that i wish to sell. BUT i want to sell it "complete" by which i mean as a complete image to be written onto a SD Card (for Raspberry Pi). This means that with my software i will provide a Linux distro, and some…
Daniel Jørgensen
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Does FFmpeg LGPL license apply in case if application is using FFmpeg via CLI

Does FFmpeg LGPL license applies when FFmpeg is being used from my application as an external tool, which is being called via command line interface? I do not compile, modify or even include FFmpeg with my application in any way or form. I do not…
Normunds
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