[OT] New pricing (GPL issues)

[Mark Wilcox]

OK, second post in a row - really sorry for forgetting to delete the whole digest from the end of the last one before I hit send.  Promise not to do it again. :)

Apple don't have an explicit policy against the GPL or any other open source license as far as I'm aware.  I am not an IP lawyer but I did work for an open source software foundation for a couple of years, so I've spent quite a while reading/thinking about these issues.

If someone complains you're violating their copyright (or breaking the terms of their copyright license) to Apple, your app is likely to get taken down, whether you're using open source or not.  This is what has happened to apps using GPL code that have been taken down so far.

If you build an app against the open source version of LiveCode and release the source under a GPL compatible license (doesn't have to be GPL and indeed probably better to go with something more permissive if you intend it to be free and open for everyone) then the only issue you should face with submitting to the app store is if RunRev complain to Apple, since they are the copyright holder and thus the only ones with a valid complaint (FSF can whinge all they like about the platform being incompatible with their license, their copyright has not been infringed).  FWIW the GPLv2 is being blatantly disregarded ALL the time in (almost?) all Android devices and many other embedded Linux platforms.  The Linux kernel developers just prefer that their work is used and people don't make commercial forks rather than making all the hardware vendors out there follow the letter of the GPL (which they aren't prepared to do in most cases).

If RunRev are OK with any kind of non-comercial usage (they should be, it'd save them the hassle of coming up with a solution for free educational software and student projects) then they should add a clause to this effect to their version of the GPL, just so everyone, including potential contributors to LiveCode, is clear.  If they're not then as long as you use a permissive GPL compatible license for your open source project then anyone with a commercial license can build and submit it for you - I expect there's be volunteers for serious projects trying to produce quality free/open software.

There's really no way to comply fully with the GPL and release viable commercial software anyway.  If you release the full source code to your app under a GPL compatible license and try to sell it there is nothing to stop someone else building it and selling a version for less or giving it away for free (this is why the GPL's free as in speech must almost always mean free as in beer too in an age of ubiquitous internet access for distribution).

Hope that helps rather than confuses.  Happy to answer other questions in this area to the best of my ability.

Mark