Author of ATSC Capture and Edit Tool Tries to Revoke GPL

The author of ATSC capture and edit tool has announced that he is attempting to revoke the licensing of his product under the GPL General Public License. Unfortunately it appears that the GPL does not allow this particular action. Of course in this heyday of lawyers and trigger happy litigators who can tell. What successes have others had in trying to take something they once operated under the GPL and make it private? And the more pressing question, why?

Comments

Come on guys, it's not hard.

[PhrostyMcByte]

READ the license before putting your code under it. I know the GPL is big, but you only need to do it once. You can change the license on future releases (assuming you own the copyright), but you can't revoke the rights the GPL grants to people using past releases.

Re:Could fuel anti GPL fire

[Waffle Iron]

Why would it raise concerns about the GPL in particular? If the GPL can be revoked after the fact, then *any* software license (proprietary, FOSS or whatever) could likewise be revoked. Any 3rd party code of any kind in commercial applications would be at similar risk.

Request Denied

[ewhac]

If revoking the GPL were possible, Microsoft could simply buy the copyright to any GPL project it deemed a potential threat and revoke the licensing (existing users would get a license pricing break 12 months later on Microsoft LS, Microsoft CAT, Microsoft FIND, Microsoft IFCONFIG, etc...).

Frankly, I wonder what the causative factor was. Did someone threaten to sue him unless he pulled the code down?

Schwab

Re:Gee, what a *GREAT* idea

[gnasher719]

Yes, it propogates. If the first person was not authorized to distribute the code, then the GPL does not make it valid. As the GPL prohibits licencing encumbered code, it does not apply, thus any distributions were not made under the GPL, and thus those distributions cannot be redistributed under the GPL as the original copy was never validly released under the GPL. Of course, IANAL. In this case, the person who "revokes" the license claims that he is the sole author of the software in question (unfortunately, he doesn't write that he is the copyright holder, but if he isn't the copyright holder, then he doesn't have the right to give or deny permission to anyone, so we should assume he is the copyright holder).

So according to what he says, everybody who has the code right now has it legally. He also says he is revoking the GPL, he doesn't claim that the code was stolen from him, so anybody who received the code has it under the GPL license.

He has of course the right not to make any further distributions himself using the GPL, or not make any bugfixes available under GPL, or just not make any bugfixes available at all, and to ask people to please delete the software and not distribute it. However, anybody who has the software still has the right to distribute it, that is irrevocable. There is nothing at all he can do about it. If he tries to sue anybody for distribution, that would be thrown out of court in no time.

And almost certainly wrong

[WindBourne]

I am guessing that he has found a new business model/investor and now wants to change.

But he will not be able to revoke the GPL for the old work. The reality is that he used lower level GPL software to build with. As such, he entered into a contract that said, I am re-paying you by adding to the work. Once he released it, it was payment. Imagine if MS sold you an application, and then later decided to jack up the price you paid for it i.e. they charge you again. That is illegal (though you may have to pay for certain extras).

In fact, if he could retract the license, then why do commercial companies with their big fancy lawyers not retract your right to use their software when they want you to upgrade? In particular, MS sells you a app say MS word. License says that if you paid us for you have the right to use this on one system. Later, MS wants you to upgrade. How do they encourage it? They stop support it for it. But if they could retract the license and say that you are now illegal and must get rid of this, don't you think they would? In fact, IBM and others would be doing it ALL the time. Point is, the GPL was legally applied to this app. It has been there for a long time.

He has ZERO rights to pull it back. The only right that he has is change the license of future code.

Re:Gee, what a *GREAT* idea

[geoswan]

But the flip side is that if you obtain stolen property it doesn't matter if you accepted it in good faith, it's still not yours and you have to return it.

You remind me of the anorexic, who couldn't decide whether or not they were on a diet.

So they ate a whole chocolate cake.

Afterwards, they decided they were on a diet, after all. So they took steps to return the cake to the uneaten state.

It seems to me what the original author and copyright holder is saying is:
* I wrote some great software;
* I couldn't decide whether or not I wanted to release this software under the GPL;
* I thought my career would get a boost, from my reputation getting a boost, from releasing something good. Users might pay me consulting fees to maintain or extend my product. I might sell a book on how to use it. So even though I hadn't really made up my mind, I gave it away.
* Well, my career didn't get the boost I expected. So, now I have finally made up my mind. I don't want it out under the GPL after all.

This does not make anyone who received it from him a thief. It does not make anyone who received a legitimate copy, one that came with a copy of the GPL, and credited the original author, a thief.

And, IMO, it doesn't make anyone who redistributes his software, with the GPL liscense, and the appropriate credit, a thief.

Distributors who filed off the serial numbers, gave it away, or sold it, without crediting him, were thieves -- both before and after he tried to revoke the GPL.

Warning! Never do business with this individual! How could you tell he would honor any agreement you thought you had with him?