<div dir="ltr">This is an interesting legal problem.<br><br>According to the GPL, your work is derived from software covered by the GPL and therefore the client can not give you a copy of the source under any terms other than the GPL even if they own the copyright to the part of the work created by you.<br>
<br>Now, you have a copy of the source (since you created it) by permission (which may be irrelevant) of the client. <br>Therefore the copy you have is governed by the GPL and it is illegal of the client to prevent you from distributing it under the GPL.<br>
<br>Some people might look at this problem and trivially dismiss it because of such and such, but I wonder if it can be trivially dismissed.<br><br>The interesting thing is that there are a lot of transactions and business based on similar relationships between developers and clients. The consequences of this problem can therefore be huge.<br>
<br>This is not the only problem with the GPL. There are other fundamental problems such as the problem of determining and maintaining ownership of copyright of Free Software projects.<br><br>I would love to hear the opinion of a legal expert on this.<br>
<br>Nir<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 11:53 AM, Fred Jones <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:fredthejonester@gmail.com">fredthejonester@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
We have one client for whom we wrote a set of custom modules. I asked<br>
the client if we could put the modules on d.o and he balked. I tried<br>
to explain that he'll get good testing and also bug fixes and new<br>
features maybe, if others post patches etc.<br>
<br>
He feels that he (his organization that is) paid for the work and why<br>
should someone else now benefit? He also has this idea that other<br>
organizations like his will want a site like his and he has plans to<br>
provide a hosted service for them (while this idea may seem<br>
far-fetched, I do think he has some connections which might make this<br>
idea feasible).<br>
<br>
So he thinks if we release the code, then they will just grab the code<br>
and use it. I tried to explain that your average layman has no idea<br>
what Drupal is, no way to figure out your site is running Drupal, and<br>
if even he got that far, he has no way of building his site without a<br>
professional to put the pieces together (after they figure what those<br>
pieces are of course), and then they he would do just as well to use<br>
our hosted plan!<br>
<br>
But he hasn't accepted this. Are there any good arguments we can use<br>
to persuade him? I feel he has nothing to lose in releasing the code,<br>
but we have to convince him of that.<br>
<br>
Thanks.<br>
</blockquote></div><br></div>