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From: phr@mit-prep.ARPA (Paul Rubin)
Newsgroups: net.micro.atari16
Subject: Re: ST Evaluation Requested
Message-ID: <61@mit-prep.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 7-Aug-86 00:58:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: mit-prep.61
Posted: Thu Aug  7 00:58:26 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 9-Aug-86 03:36:10 EDT
Organization: The MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 40


   From: cbbrowne@watnot.UUCP (Christopher Browne)
   Newsgroups: net.micro.atari16
   Date: 3 Aug 86 00:12:05 GMT
   Reply-To: cbbrowne@watnot.UUCP (Christopher Browne)
   Keywords: cd-roms unix monitors star-raiders foreplay sex

   [Stuff about a some vendor selling a CD-rom full of public domain
   software for $195...]  Next, comes the part about suing.  They
   cannot be sued for selling public domain software.  They can be
   sued for selling copyrighted software without permission (big
   difference).  GNU (the 'public domain' UNIX clone) cannot legally
   be sold for a profit, because it is copyrighted.  It can be
   distributed free of charge (or, I think, with a minimal copying fee
   - you'll have to pay for the tape/disks you get it on) but not
   sold. ...

There is no problem with selling copies of GNU, or support services
for it, at a profit.  What GNU's copyright terms do not allow is trying
to restrict further redistribution of any version of GNU that you
sell.  The vendor has to pass on the same rights to the recipient that
s/he him/herself had (including the right to give away copies)--- that
is, proprietary versions are not allowed.  The only other restriction
is that if any GNU-derived software is distributed in binary form
(such as in ROMs), it must also be made available in machine readable
source code form at nominal cost to anyone asking for it.  (Also, the
customer must be informed that the Free Software Foundation does not
provide any warranty for the software.)

See the GNU Emacs General Public License for details of this.  Other
parts of the GNU system will be released under very similar terms.  I
will mail copies of the General Public License on request.

	Paul Rubin
	Free Software Foundation

P.S. As long as the contents of the CD-rom that that place is selling
is still PD, I don't find it too objectionable.  As long as the people
selling the CD-rom do not try to prohibit others from copying it,
possibly also in CD-rom form, the price should fall pretty fast.