Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: calling the GPL a "poison pill"

Author:Seth Gordon
Posted:8/30/2000; 9:00:09 AM
Topic:scriptingNews outline for 8/28/2000
Msg #:20544 (In response to 20543)
Prev/Next:20543 / 20545

...if you GPL your free stuff, are you restricting your ability to use your own code in your commercial software?
For your own code, no. You own the copyright for your own code (or your employer owns the copyright for the code they hired you to write). When you release it under the GPL, you're granting other people permission to copy it if they follow certain restrictions, but you aren't binding yourself by those restrictions.

However, if someone else modifies your code and you pick up the modified version, they own the copyright on their modifications, so you can't use that part in your commercial software unless you either follow the GPL or get permission from them.

Disclaimer: IANAL.

There are responses to this message:

This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:56:24 PM.

© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.