[sword-devel] Bereans and Sword and GPL vs PD

[Rev. Michael Paul Johnson]

At 06:58 15-12-03, Chris Little wrote:
...In the simplest terms:
>1) We cannot legally change our license right now.  We use code owned by the Free Software Foundation that is GPL licensed.  Changing the licenses is not an option.

This much is true. That is part of the beauty of the GPL, and the biggest single reason why GPL software is becoming a viable option even for large corporations. I dare say that Linux would have never been as successful as it is without the GPL or something like it.

>...
>PD is anti-"IP".  It destroys an idea's economic value (but certainly not its intellectual value) by making it free to all.  And what's more, it's UNCONSTITUTIONAL! (disclaimer: PD is only unconstitutional if you reside within the twisted confines of Darl McBride's mind.)

PD is not unconstitutional. The U. S. Constitution clearly allows Congress to establish copyright protection for a limited time for creative works, after which the works enter the public domain. Congress has done nothing to prevent IP owners from dedicating their works to the public domain before they have to. Right now, it would be every bit as legally and morally wrong for me to recall the World English Bible from the Public Domain as it would be for the Sword Project to be released from copyright and GPL before the copyright law causes the work to enter the public domain due to the passage of time.

PD has the following characteristics which may or may not be advantages compared to GPL, depending on your point of view:

1. You can include PD work in commercial work and refuse to give the resulting greater work away in either source or object form without payment or refuse to give it away at all. GPL work and its derivatives must remain GPL, unless ALL contributors to a given piece of work agree to release it under another license in addition to the GPL.

2. You don't have to include a long legal license in your own work, and you may license your work as you please. All GPL work and its derivatives must be accompanied with the GPL license, which restricts what you can legally do in order to preserve the freedom of the code.

3. Just because PD work is included in another commercial work does not restrict anyone else from publishing or using the same PD work, just like GPL, but unlike GPL, these derivative works need not be free.

4. A GPL project can use PD code. A pure PD project cannot use GPL code. A commercial project can use PD code or LGPL code, but it cannot use GPL code.

5. I don't think that any of the above-mentioned licensing models are evil in and of themselves, although some are easier to abuse than others.

I think that the approach that most pleases Jesus in the light of the Scriptures quoted in this discussion is NOT to condemn anyone else for profiting from selling Scriptures or even using a different way of spreading the Gospel free of charge, but to simply work to distribute the Good News of Jesus Christ as freely as you receive it. The Gospel is free, but it takes money to deliver it. God also supplies whatever it takes to deliver it. It may be through "regular jobs" or other means, such as donations. The United Bible Societies use book sales in the USA to help fund getting Scriptures to people less able to afford it. These subsidies allow fairly nicely bound New Testaments to be sold in minority languages for about US$0.60 in Papua New Guinea. Actually, they could be made free, but many people have discovered that when the Scriptures are given away totally free, people don't attach any value to them, and tend to use the paper for toilet paper or something.

Let others do what they like, as long as it is legal. Be an example and do what you think is right yourself. Keep in mind that there is value in joining together to cooperate.

I'm OK with and support The Sword Project as GPL.
I'm OK with and support the use of LGPL and IBM CPL for Bible translation software projects within SIL & EBT.
I decided on purpose to go with Public Domain for the text of the World English Bible and the World English Bible: Messianic Edition, and I'm both stuck with and pleased with that decision.
Let Zondervan & IBS sell the NIV and/or give away selected portions and editions in ways that seem good to them. Ditto for the Lockman Foundation and the NASB.
I commend the God's Word to the Nations Bible Society for letting the Crosswire Bible Society distribute the God's Word translation free of charge. I pray that they would prosper even more in their book sales because of that.

Keep smiling! Jesus loves you!


Kahunapule
http://eBible.org/mpj/