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The Viral Clause

[ Thanks to An Anonymous Reader for
this link. ]

“Paradoxically, the viral clause, the part of the GPL licensing
framework that so many people objected to because it wasn’t
business friendly, made the license business friendly–in the
future, a license that liberates business from the drug of DRM and
the prison of software patents may turn out to have been equally
prescient and business friendly.

“The Linux kernel is licensed under the GNU General Public
Licence, or GPL. As we all know, the GPL turns copyright law on its
head, and encourages freedom by granting the user a number of
rights and responsibilities…”

Complete Story

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