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List:       kde-licensing
Subject:    Re: Major licensing issue alarm...
From:       Kevin Forge <forge () myrealbox ! com>
Date:       2000-07-05 22:19:19
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Neil Stevens wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 05 Jul 2000, Bill Soudan wrote:
> > >From Zack Brown's most recent Kernel Traffic:
> >
> > http://kt.linuxcare.com/kernel-traffic/kt20000703_74.epl
> >
> > 'Elsewhere, Alan also remarked, "Actually folks get sued for not following
> > copyrights. I've been talking to someone recently who plans to solve the
> > KDE gpl/nongpl issue by issuing cease and desist orders to KDE. Vendors
> > also take it seriously. Some of them anyway"'
> 
> Well, if KDE links GPL code to Qt, then the copyright holders could sue.
> Then a court could decide whose interpretation of the GPL version 2 is
> legally binding.
> 
> Does anything in KDE contain GPL code taken from other projects that don't
> themselves link to Qt?

Yes.  I have herd of as many as 5 apps.  The only ones I
can name for sure are kfloppy and kghostview.  In all 
likelihood there are others.  I don't see how such a stop 
order will solve anything however.  KDE would simply drop 
the app in question and then code around the gap if needed.  

All without even admitting liability.  You see KDE has a 
tradition of dropping code at the request of the author 
regardless of legal or technical problems.  I.e. Kimp 
was never distributed mostly because the Gimp people
didn't approve.  

If it's an important app they may code around the loss.

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