[sword-devel] GPL and source code

[peter]

Received an reply from CDearth today:
---------------
Hi Peter,

My apologies for the delayed reply. Its taken few days to get answers
because of the holiday weekend.

To answer your questions:

1. We have not altered the application so there is no additional source
code to release.
2. Per your request, we have added in copyright info on the website page
that the software is licensed under GPL.


Regards,

CD Earth Customer Service
help at cdearth.com

----------------------

They have indeed added a line under each of the advertsised software
packages mentioning the licence and the real name.

Peter



peter wrote:
> Jonathan Morgan wrote:
>> On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 1:50 AM, peter <refdoc at gmx.net> wrote:
>>>  You will appreciate that your obligations according the GPL are a bit more.
>>>
>>>  1) If you rebrand the software (which you appear to have done) you have
>>>  effectively altered its sources and must advertise this fact + provide
>>>  the altered sources.
>> This is correct.
>>
>>>  2) If you distribute the software you must be clear to the customers
>>>  that this is GPL free software. Before they buy. I see no such reference
>>>  in the material on the website. In fact the website makes it appear that
>>>  this is your software. Which is not true.
>> I'm not so convinced of this one (and yes, I have just read through
>> the GPL). 
> 
> "provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy
> an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact
> all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any
> warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this
> License along with the Program. "
> 
> I think a lot hangs on the "conspicuously". I would think if you are
> tied into a contract before you had a chance to read the "conspicuous"
> notice then it was not conspicuous at all. But maybe I am wrong here.
> IANAL etc.
> 
> But even if I am right, the main problem Thinkall and all similar
> outfits probably have is not with the GPL but with the FTC. Which is
> bad enough a problem to have... We are hardly in a position to enforce
> GPL compliance beyond blacklisting.
> 
> Peter
> 
> 
>  I do not find that item 1 says this.  It says that the
>> copyright and disclaimer of warranty must be prominently displayed on
>> the copy (probably the CD), but I'm not convinced that that would mean
>> that it had to be displayed on the website.
>>
>> Jon
>>
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