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On Tuesday, April 16, 2002, at 05:20 PM, Wayne wrote:
At 04:29 PM 4/16/2002 -0500, you wrote:
"Except for one special
situation,
That one special situation, is that after you have completed the
transaction for your distributed binaries, you can not ask for MORE
money in order to distribute the source code (except for distribution
costs).
Let's do some math.
I download Debian off the internet for zero cost. I put it on a cd and
label it "Paul's SuperDuper Linux". This cd contains ONLY compiled
versions of the programs and documentation and required license
information. NO SOURCE CODE at all.
I sell this CD for $10,000. Mr. Farmsmith buys it from me by cutting me
a check for $10,000. In return I give him a copy of the CD containing
binaries/docs/license only and no source code. This is allowed under the
GPL.
The next day, Mr. Farmsmith asks for a cd that contains all of the
source code used to make the binaries contained on "Paul's SuperDuper
Linux" CD. I then tell Mr. Farmsmith that he must send me a check for
$1.50. This covers $1 for shipping and handling and 50 cents for the
CD-R I bought at the store to put it on. He sends me the check and I
mail him out the source code cd. This also is allowed under the GPL.
What the GPL doesn't allow me to do is ask Mr. Farmsmith to pay me
ANOTHER $10,000 for the source code cd. Once I have given him binaries
at whatever cost, he is entitled to the source code at NO EXTRA cost,
except for distribution costs.
A week later, Mr. Wayne tells me I must my source code for the Paul's
SuperDuper Linux CD on an ftp server so he can download it for free. I
politely reply, I don't have an ftp server I can put it on, but for
$10,000 I will be perfectly happy to send you out a copy of the compiled
binary "Paul's SuperDuper Linux" CD and for an extra $1.50 more I will
also send you a cd containing the source code. Once again this is
perfectly allowed and legal under the GPL.
The next day Mr. Wayne threatens to sue me for GPL infringement. My
response is to laugh in his face. Yup you guessed it, laughing is
allowed under the GPL.
--Paul Baker
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