[PLUG] Apple Ousts Coder for Being Young

Nathan Meyers nmeyers at javalinux.net
Mon Apr 1 17:12:15 UTC 2002


On Sun, Mar 31, 2002 at 10:43:16PM -0800, Paul Mullen wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 30, 2002 at 10:40:43PM -0800, Jeme A Brelin wrote:
> > 
> > I just envisioned Microsoft or somebody paying off a bunch of young
> > hackers to contribute to GPL projects and then rescind their commitment
> > and claim proprietary ownership of important chunks of Free Software after
> > it's become widespread.
> 
> I always thought part of the GPL's appeal was that once a work had been
> released under it, the license couldn't be rescinded at a later date
> (returning the work to a proprietary state). Was I mistaken?

No, but it's no good if someone violates a legal commitment or a law
in releasing such code. For example, if you obtain Windows source under
license with the Evil Empire and release a copy under GPL, that doesn't
make Windows GPL, it just makes your name mud. Microsoft would have
the legal right to withdraw the code from GPL, sue your ass, and run a
multimillion-dollar advertising campaign claiming that OSS=piracy.

Nathan




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