Detailed Study and Analysis of GPL and LGPL

This one-day course gives a section-by-section explanation of the most

popular Free Software copyright license, the GNU General Public License

(GNU GPL), and teaches lawyers, software developers, managers and business

people how to use the GPL (and GPL'ed software) successfully in a new Free

Software business and in existing, successful enterprises.

Prerequisites:

     Attendees should have a general familiarity with software development

     processes.  A basic understanding of how copyright law typically

     applies to software is also helpful.

Audience:

     The course is of most interest to lawyers, software developers and

     managers who run (or have clients who run) software businesses that

     modify and/or redistribute software under terms of the GNU GPL or

     LGPL, or who wish to make use of existing GPL'd and LGPL'd software

     in their enterprise.

The course will include the topics listed below, along with ample time for

questions and discussions.  Lunch is included, with a lunch speaker to be

announced.

  * Free Software Principles and the Free Software Definition

    The ethical principles that motivated the creation of these licenses

    are presented.  Unlike licenses that seek to lock up software in a

    proprietary fashion, the GPL and LGPL are designed to grant freedom to

    innovate, learn and improve.  Those principles influence licensing

    policy decisions.  We present the specific definition of the concept

    of "Free Software" (software whose license grants freedoms to copy,

    share, modify and redistribute the software either gratis or for a

    fee) for-profit companies.

  * Preamble of the GNU General Public License (GPL)

    The preamble presents the intent of the license.  The preamble puts

    forth the motivations for the detailed terms and conditions that

    follow in the license.  We discuss the language of the preamble in

    detail to show how it frames the legal details that follow.

  * GPL, Section 0: Definitions, etc.

    GPL's section 0 defines and presents the terms that make the basis of

    this copyright license.  We discuss those definitions and the

    copyright scope of the license.

  * GPL, Section 1: Grant for Verbatim Source Copying

    Section 1 defines the terms for making source-only copies of software

    programs.  We discuss how those rules work and the requirements and

    obligations for distributors of GPL'd source, whether they choose to

    distribute at no charge or for fees.

  * Derivative Works: Statute and Case Law

    Free Software licensing in general, and the GPL and LGPL in

    particular, relies critically on the concept of derivative work since

    software that is independent (i.e., not derivative) of Free Software

    need not abide by any of the terms of the applicable Free Software

    license. If a work is a derivative work of Free Software, then the

    terms of the license are triggered, and one has obligations to comply

    with the terms of the Free Software license under which the original

    work is distributed.  Therefore, one is left to ask, just what is a

    "derivative work?"  We will show how the answer to that question

    depends on which court is being asked.  We also present the best

    background information available to build a working understanding of

    what is generally considered a derivate work in the rapidly changing

    field of software copyright law.

  * GPL, Section 2: Grants for Source Derivative Works

    Section 2 sets forth the rules for creation of derivative works of

    GPL'd software.  We discuss the intent of this section of GPL and how

    it relates to the copyright situation discussed in our discussion of

    derivative works.  We also explain the details of preparing derivative

    source in a GPL-compliant way.

  * GPL, Section 3: Grants for Creating Binary Derivative Works

    Source-only distribution works well for technically savvy clients and

    users, but most want runnable binary programs as well.  Section 3

    gives permission for the creation and distribution of such binary

    works.  We explain how GPL's requirement for corresponding source code

    operate, and detail what distribution options are available to

    distributors of binary GPL'd software.  We explore the benefits and

    downsides of each of those options.

  * The Implied Patent Grant in GPL

    Patent rights are most often granted expressly, through detailed

    language in a license.  However, express patent grants are not the

    exclusive way rights in patents are granted by patentees.  Even

    without express language, patent rights can be granted by a patentee's

    actions or behavior.  The GPL contains no express patent grant.  Does

    that mean it grants less rights in the licensor's patents than other

    licenses which do?  Or, does the GPL, in its silence, actually result

    in a grant of patent rights to the licensee greater than occurs

    through many other Free Software and "Open Source" licenses?

    We will consider these questions and provide detailed answers to them.

  * GPL, Section 4: Termination of License

    Section 4 terminates rights under GPL for those who violate it.  We

    discuss how such termination works, what it means for violators, what

    risks one takes in violating, and how rights are typically restored.

    We briefly mention how Section 4 is used as the central tool in GPL

    enforcement.

  * GPL, Section 5: Acceptance of License

    GPL is not a contract, so acceptance of the license works differently

    than it does for contracts.  We discuss how this acceptance works

    under the copyright rules that govern GPL.

  * GPL, Section 6: Prohibition on Further Restrictions

    Other licensing terms cannot be placed on GPL'd software that would

    trump the rights granted under GPL.  We discuss how Section 6 is used

    to ensure that no such additional restrictions occur.  We briefly

    discuss how this leads to the concept of GPL-incompatible Free

    Software licenses.

  * GPL, Section 7: Conflicts with other Agreements or Orders

    Just as additional licensing restrictions cannot trump GPL, outside

    agreements, patent licenses or court orders cannot do so either.  We

    discuss how Section 7 ensures that other rules outside of the direct

    software license cannot take rights away from users, distributors, and

    modifiers of GPL'd software.

  * GPL, Section 8: International Licensing Issues

    Section 8 is rarely used part of the GPL that helps copyright holders

    when certain technologies are prohibited from full international

    distribution due to draconian rules elsewhere in the world.  We

    explain how Section 8 helps such copyright holders.

  * GPL, Section 9: FSF as GPL's Stewards

    We discuss how the update process and release of new GPL versions

    happens.

  * GPL, Section 10: Copyright Holder's Exceptions to GPL

    Section 10 reminds licensees that under copyright law, other

    relicensing arrangements can be made.  We discuss how this can often

    be used as a business model and we explicate that model's benefits and

    downsides.

  * GPL, Section 11: Disclaimer of Warranties

    GPL, Section 12: Limitation of Liability

    Almost all software licenses, including Free Software licenses such as

    the GPL, contain sections, typically in all caps, regarding warranties

    and liability.  The purposes of these sections are lost on most

    non-lawyers, but attorneys understand the importance their language

    provides to both the licensor and the licensee.  Some have argued that

    the GPL's Sections 11 and 12 render it entirely unenforceable.  We

    consider whether that is true, and present the likely interpretation

    and implementation of the GPL's Warranty Disclaimer and Liability

    Limitation provisions.

  * Lesser General Public License (LGPL)

    The LGPL is a "scaled back" version of GPL, designed specifically to

    allow creation of a very well-defined class of proprietary derivative

    works.  However, it does prohibit turning the LGPL'd software itself

    directly into proprietary software.

    We discuss the basic design of LGPL and how it compares and contrasts

    with GPL.  We introduce the two classes of derivative works covered

    by LGPL -- "works that use the library" and "works based on the

    library" -- and give some concrete examples of what proprietary

    derivative works are prohibited and permitted when basing the

    software on an LGPL'd work.