[Opensim-dev] Violating the GPL by looking (Re: Voice Module)

[Rob Lanphier]

On 3/16/08 9:01 PM, Ryan McDougall wrote:
> The issue is _not_ reading any form of GPL then whistling dixie; the
> issue is reading SL's client viewer and writing BSD code for a related
> project, OpenSim. 
>
> It creates a situation where you can be accused to violating the GPL by
> trans-coding, intentionally or not, SL viewer code from GPL to BSD, and
> open up a small community to a legal dark cloud.
>
> Me personally, I'm not a big fan of that interpretation, but its one
> upheld by US court case law, risk-averse corporate lawyers for a major
> 3-letter computer company, and more importantly risk-averse OpenSim core
> developers.
>
> If LL wanted to clarify the situation, they're welcome to draw up a
> covenant not to sue OpenSim or its developers over the matter. That's by
> far my favorite option.
>
>   

What *exactly* would such a statement say?  Can you point me to an 
example of any company who publishes GPL source code that has ever done 
anything like this?

Rob



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