[ILUG] GPL violation?

[Paul Jakma]

On Mon, 15 Nov 2004, Conor Daly wrote:

> Just came across a helpdesk suite called helpdesk revolution which 
> claims on their front page to be "Help Desk Support Software.100% 
> Free GPL Help Desk" and then, on the download page (in a jpg so you 
> can't copy the text):
>
> "Copyright 2004.  GPL Limited License Terms
> You may not Resell this Software
> You may not Redistribute this Software without prior authorisation
> You may not use this Software to create Direct Profit
> You may not Reengineer this Software
>
> contact legal at helpdeskrevolutions.com for any questions..."
>
> I presume this is a violation of the GPL.

That depends, is it theirs?

> Not that I dispute their right to impose restrictions on their 
> software but claiming "100% Free GPL" along with contradictory 
> restrictions seems a little underhand to me...

Well, they call it the " GPL Limited License".

> I presume a note to fsf.org is in order.  Any other thoughts?

If its their own software, they have the copyright, it's not a GPL 
licence violation.

Whether the term 'GPL' is trademarked, i dont know (doubt it), is 
another story.

> Conor

regards,
-- 
Paul Jakma	paul at clubi.ie	paul at jakma.org	Key ID: 64A2FF6A
Fortune:
Water, taken in moderation cannot hurt anybody.
 		-- Mark Twain