[vlc-devel] Formal complaint - censorship

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

On Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:49:13 +0200, "Pierre d'Herbemont"
<pdherbemont at free.fr> wrote:
> Could you try to work with me on a compromise? Either be explicit in
> what you would expect to be changed. Because (and I have been looking
> for this) there is nothing factual about GPL license violation in the
> AppStore. So without additional explanation I will take the GPL
> complaint as being nothing more than a troll.

This is all explained here. You will need to pass the page through
political filtering though:

http://www.fsf.org/news/blogs/licensing/more-about-the-app-store-gpl-enforcement

>From the AppStore terms (be careful not to read the iTunes terms on the
same page):

"Apple is the provider of the Services that permit you to license software
products and digital content (the “Products”) for end user use only
under the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement." Already there
is a contradiction since you cannot license GPL software products for /end
user use only/.

"(...) you shall use Products in compliance with the applicable usage rules
established by Apple and its principals (“Usage Rules”)"  This is a bit
confusing because the only usage rules (as far as AppStore is concerned)
seems to be PERMISSIONS (to install on this many device and blablabla)
rather than RESTRICTIONS. Then again, the intent from Apple is to forbid
anything not explicitly allowed. Thus this would seem to be incompatible.
Anyway, continuing...

"a. Scope of License: This license granted to you for the Licensed
Application by Licensor is limited to a nontransferable license to use the
Licensed Application on any iOS-based device (including but not limited to
iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch) that you own or control and as permitted by
the Usage Rules set forth in the App Store Terms and Conditions (the
“Usage Rules”). This license does not allow you to use the Licensed
Application on any iOS-based device that you do not own or control, and you
may not distribute or make the Licensed Application available over a
network where it could be used by multiple devices at the same time." This
sets GPL incompatible restrictions again.

"You may not rent, lease, lend, sell, redistribute, or sublicense the
Licensed Application." That creates yet more invalid restrictions.

"You may not copy (except as expressly permitted by this license and the
Usage Rules), decompile, reverse-engineer, disassemble, attempt to derive
the source code of, modify, or create derivative works of the Licensed
Application, any updates, or any part thereof (except as and only to the
extent that any foregoing restriction is prohibited by applicable law or to
the extent as may be permitted by the licensing terms governing use of any
open-sourced components included with the Licensed Application)." This is
however probably OK thanks to the open-source exclusion clause.

"i. The laws of the State of California, excluding its conflicts of law
rules, govern this license and your use of the Licensed Application. Your
use of the Licensed Application may also be subject to other local, state,
national, or international laws." As far as I know, choice of venue clauses
are also GPL-incompatible restrictions, since the GPL does not require the
user to obey any laws other than the local ones.

-- 
Rémi Denis-Courmont
http://www.remlab.net
http://fi.linkedin.com/in/remidenis