Re: Overview of copyright issues

[Hans Aberg]

On 9 Sep 2009, at 18:04, Joseph Wakeling wrote:

> In addressing this there are several policies that can be put in  
> place NOW:
>
>   (1) All new files added to the code or docs must contain an
>       unambiguous copyright AND licensing notice: I suggest in this
>       case GPLv2 or later for code, and the GFDL 1.1 or later for  
> docs.

I think that the formulation should be "GPL, v2 or latest", because  
otherwise those that want to redistribute the code can choose which  
version, which is not the intent - v3 is in fact more restrictive with  
respect to tivoization. Only one GPL should be applicable. The  
formulation "or later" is probably spilled usage when indicating which  
version can be used - then it means one can choose version.

This formulation also means that the distribution conditions may  
change, even though the copyright notice is not changed of a package,  
when new version of the GPL are issued. I think that is fully legal.

  Hans