[consulting] Copyright

[Eric Goldhagen]

At 6:45 PM -0500 4/25/10, Larry Garfield wrote:
>On Sunday 25 April 2010 10:18:44 am Eric Goldhagen wrote:
>
>>  Unless they have redistributed their changes, in which case they have
>>  a commitment to return their code to those that maintain the codebase
>>  they built on top of. Which is why my contracts specify that turning
>>  over a completed project is considered distribution.
>>
>>  --Eric
>
>There is no requirement whatsoever that changes be redistributed "upstream". 
>The only requirement of the GPL is that downstream receivers of the code
>receive it under the terms of the GPL.  That is, if you fork Drupal and start
>distributing it, you are under no obligation to give anything to Drupal.org;
>you just can't stop any of the people you give your fork to from doing so.
>
>It's a good idea to contribute changes upstream for a variety of reasons in
>most cases, but it's not a legal requirement.

Yes, you are right. Ethical obligation to the community (commitment 
based on what it is to be a good participant in a free software 
community) the right to which the GPL indirectly protects, not a 
legal mandate it requires.

--Eric
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