GPL exception validity

Question

I was contracted to modify software released under the GPL. The small research company I am consulting with will present an analysis of the release of modified software as part of the response to the RFP request by the U.S. Department of Defense. But there is a trick.

The source directory contains the file COPYRIGHT (along with the standard GPL.txt), which contains the following text:

“This program is free software. Permission is granted to use, redistribute and / or modify it in accordance with the GNU General Public License (GPL) published by the Free Software Foundation with the ONLY EXCLUSION that the software and all parts of it are NEVER USED FOR ANY MILITARY GOALS, whether research or not, commercial or otherwise. You can use either version 2 of the GPL or (at your option) any later version. "

This restriction is clearly incompatible with section 6 of the GPL (... you cannot impose any additional restrictions on the exercise by recipients of the rights granted here ...)

So it looks like they violated the GPL.

Can I consider their restriction on my GPL rights?

Answer 1

Two interesting bits from the GNU FAQ:

I would like to license my code under the GPL, but I would also like to make it clear that it cannot be used for military and / or commercial use. Can I do it?

No, because these two goals contradict each other. The GNU GPL is specifically designed to prevent the addition of restrictions. GPLv3 allows a very limited set of them, in section 7, but any other added restriction can be removed by the user.

Can I change the GPL and make a changed license?

You can use the GPL terms (possibly modified) in another license, provided that you have a different license name and do not include the GPL preamble and provide you change the instructions for use at the end enough to make it clearly different in wording and not mentioned by GNU (although the actual procedure you describe may be similar).

...

They modified the GPL in a way that is not allowed.

From the GPL:

7. Additional conditions.

“Additional permissions” are conditions that supplement the terms of this License by making exceptions to one or more of its conditions.

...

All other non-permissive additional terms are considered “more restrictions” within the meaning of Section 10. If the program, as you received it or any part of it, contains a notice that it is governed by this License along with a period which is an additional restriction, you can delete this term.

...

It looks like you are allowed to remove this part of the license, but there is no way to ask a lawyer.

Answer 2

Section 6 does not apply here: he talks with the user / distributor of the code + license (licensee), and not with the person who created the code and granted the license:

You cannot impose any additional restrictions on the exercise by recipients of the rights granted here.

and

Each licensee is addressed as " you ."

(my attention.)

I don’t know if such a provision has any effect, but I don’t understand why copyright owners cannot take an existing license and add their own articles to it. Of course, this is no longer the GPL, but it is still a license, the limitations of which go further than in the GPL.

Answer 3

If the license is not valid, as some people say, you have no right to use the code at all. A license gives you rights that you would not have. This is copyright code; you use it, as the author dictates, or not at all.

I would say that the code is available under a non-FOSS license, which is obtained from the GPL. This is not a GPL code.

Whether the option of applying a later version of the GPL overrides this restriction is a good question you will need a lawyer for. I really think that using this code for military purposes, even if it was legal, would be somewhat inconvenient.

Answer 4

An author can (possibly) grant any rights that they want. However, the “GPL with restrictions” is not a GPL, therefore, if they reference any GPL code, their code must be licensed with both “GPL with restrictions” and the GPL, so you can safely use the GPL license. However, if they do not do anything that requires the code to be released under the GPL, they can probably attach any reasonable license agreement that they want to him.