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by DannyBee 3883 days ago
"You can't distribute it anywhere (under international copyright law)."

True. There are two problems. First, this violation is remedied by an action. Normally, that action for an order to comply with the license (not just "stop using it and pay damages"). There is a question whether a court would legally be able to order such a thing anymore.

B. As you have identified, "Is that not what is meant by a commercially negotiated contract? "

Generally, a commercially negotiated contract is a contract explicitly negotiated between two parties. If i have received GPL software, i have not negotiated a contract with the author or anyone else.
1 comments
belorn 3883 days ago
Is there any prior case where an court demanded that a party comply with a copyright license? "stop using it or comply with the license" seems to be the obvious step for any infringer.
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mikekchar 3883 days ago
In the case of the GPL, the "or comply with the license" doesn't even apply. As soon as you violate the license, the license is terminated. This is to stop people from violating the license and then saying, "Ok, Ok, I'll comply" when they are threatened with a lawsuit. In practice, copyright holders usually forgive the other party and offer then a new license, though. So, again from my layman's point of view, I don't think this is an issue since the court can't force the other party to disclose their source code. It can only grant an injunction on distribution.

In every case, the use of the license (and subsequent release of the source code) is a choice. Of course, without choosing to follow the license, you can't distribute the software. As far as I understand, this is by design and the reason why the GPL is so robust.

I also think this is a negotiated license because the GPL specifically says that you don't have to accept it. It is a written offer for a license. Sometimes, if you contact the copyright holder you can get a different license. Usually now. Just because the offer is made to everybody, doesn't mean it is not a negotiation (I don't think... but that's probably where knowledge of the law would come in handy ;-) ).

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