[linux-audio-user] License free Linux ??

[Anahata]

On Thu, Dec 04, 2003 at 02:14:10PM -0800, Brian Redfern wrote:
>  he's only charging
> $9, so its potentially arguable that he's just charging for the labor to
> burn a cd for someone

Completely irrelevant. If he includes the GPL and his source code he
could charge $200 and if sombody's fool enough to pay for it that's
legal under the GPL as I understand it. The GPL does *not* have any
stuff about "reasonable copying costs" etc. like those old DOS shareware
licences did.  If the source and GPL are included, that sets a
practical limit on how much he can get away with charging because anyone
else can get a copy and undercut him in the same market.

> but what's more problematic is how he tries to
> re-brand

One legal nightmare I can envisage is trademarking his name for the
product. I'm not sure if the GPL says anything about that... 
If Luxuriousity Office gets a name for itself, Open Office
might be perceived as a derivative "clone". (Actually it says "Open
Office" all over his web site at the moment)

> or attempts to make it look like his company has written the
> software
Doesn't seem so from the web site:
" Today, programmers from around the world collaborate on the project
and it has made this program one of the most popular audio editing
programs in history."

" Luxuriousity is pleased to be a community distributor for this program
and can offer it to you for a price that barely covers the manufacturing
costs and the limited support. The team of developers currently working
on this program have asked Luxuriousity to have our customers pass on
their ideas on how this program can be enhanced"...

They may or may not have done that, of course...

-- 
Anahata
anahata at treewind.co.uk -+- http://www.treewind.co.uk
Home: 01638 720444         Mob: 07976 263827