[jsword-devel] [And Bible] Clones of And Bible with adverts

Tue Apr 21 06:24:06 MST 2015

Hi Peter,

That's the reasoning that said "Apple AppStore is non-GPL compliant".  From
memory, plenty of pragmatic people kept releasing GPL apps on the AppStore
anyway.
Generally, you shouldn't expect a binary distribution channel to be geared
towards source distribution (and most users don't want it to be).  So long
as the source is made available elsewhere in some form I think most people
will accept it.

GPLv2 was written in a different world.  As software developers, we
complain about laws from 20+ years ago (often telecommunications) being
applied to the Internet as it is now, because the world has changed.  I
think the same applies to GPL v2.  I suspect plenty of projects obey the
spirit but not the letter of the license, and AndBible itself might be one
(it's not clear to me from the App Store what license it is other than
"open source" - though the Google Code page seems to say LGPL.  Nor would I
say there is a clear "offer" on the App Store or in the program itself that
I could see).

Give these other distributors a chance to comply and provide source (in the
same way as you would give Martin a chance to comply if you thought he was
not meeting the letter of the license).  If they don't, then throw the book
at them for a genuine offence against the spirit of the license.

Jon

On Tue, Apr 21, 2015 at 4:08 PM, Peter von Kaehne <refdoc at gmx.net> wrote:

> It is not so simple. The code must be clearly offered. If it is not then
> there is a breach. As we talk about shut down a breach, any breach is
> sufficient.
>
> Peter
>
> On 21 Apr 2015 02:38, "Trenton D. Adams" <trent at trentonadams.ca> wrote:
> >
> > Not true, GPL does not imply that they must post code publicly. However,
> if a user requests the code, it MUST be given to them.  So, just request it
> be given, and you can post it.
> >
> > TV manufacturers do this all the time, because they really don't want to
> share the code.  But, they are required to give it to any user that asks
> for it.
> >
> > On 2015-04-19 5:43 PM, DM Smith wrote:
> >>
> >> Martin,
> >> Makes me quite angry.
> >>
> >> Assuming AndBible is GPL. If they modify any part of it they are
> obligated to post the software. I suggest asking them for their fork of the
> code. It has to be public. If they don’t, complain to Google that they are
> violating the license agreement and ask for a takedown on that basis.
> >>
> >> If they do that, they are free to fork and even make money with it. (I
> don’t like that aspect of GPL.)
> >>
> >> The GPL is a distribution license, not governing copyright. The GPL
> does protect copyright. You’ll want a clear copyright statement in each and
> every file.
> >>
> >> Assuming you are the sole author (e.g. code and
> resources/translations), then as the sole copyright owner of AndBible (not
> JSword) you can change your license to anything of your choice. It won’t be
> retroactive. I’m not recommending that, though.
> >>
> >> I looked at a few of these and it appears that they rip off lots of
> other programs as well. Not sure how to track down the original owners, but
> having a joint effort may be of help.
> >>
> >> Couple of thoughts:
> >> Have a build time attribute that is manually entered, that does one or
> more of the following:
> >> - disables a random timer (or event counter) that causes a program
> crash/exit without warning.
> >> - disables a random timer that causes a screen declaring that the
> program has been ripped off from AndBible.
> >> - show credits, copyright and license when the program is opened for
> the first time each upgrade.
> >> Get everyone you know to leave one star reviews for these apps,
> declaring them an rip-off (Just like Peter did).
> >>
> >> Use an obfuscator to make the code that does such a thing impossible to
> read and hard to reverse engineer. Check it in and appropriately copyright
> it and license it. Make it such that if it is not called that the program
> doesn’t work.
> >>
> >> In Him,
> >> DM Smith
> >>
> >>> On Apr 19, 2015, at 5:30 PM, Peter von Kaehne <refdoc at gmx.net> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> DMCA takedown dt licence breach?
> >>>
> >>> On 19 Apr 2015 21:38, Martin Denham <mjdenham at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> I have been informed of various clones of And Bible on Play Store and
> other stores with the only addition being adverts, occasionally copyrighted
> Bibles like NIV, and other oddities like misleading pictures on the Play
> Store page.
> >>>>
> >>>> Has anybody got any suggestions what to do about these.
> >>>>
> >>>> Here are a couple:
> >>>> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ayatalkitab.harian
> >>>>
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ian.holybible.android
> >>>> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.happydev.bible
> >>>>
> >>>> Martin
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> --
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> >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
> >>>
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> >>
> >>
> >>
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