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Author of ATSC Capture and Edit Tool Tries to Revoke GPL

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the no-takey-backsies dept.

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?

1 of 472 comments (clear)

  1. Don't assume GPL takes precedence over owner by n2rjt · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    A copyright owner can revoke outstanding licenses. The only way the GPL is non-revokable is if the original copyright owner has assigned the copyright to the FSF, as is recommended by FSF. If the original owner retains copyright, he can do as he pleases:
    He can revoke licenses on existing and distributed copies.
    He can modify the license after distribution.
    He can (gasp) refuse to distribute source code for GPLed software.
    Remember that the copyright owner owns the software and all rights to it. The license, even the GPL, doesn't ever take away rights of the copyright owner.