Legal Analysis: GPLv3 is a Contract and Why it Matters

The FSF released the Third Discussion Draft of GPLv3, adding paragraphs four and five to Section 11 and explained, in war-like tones, that they were needed to “combat the threat” of a recent cooperation agreement between Novell and Microsoft and other agreements like it. The stated “threat” is a covenant by Microsoft not to assert its patent rights against customers who have purchased SUSE Linux Enterprise Server or other covered products from Novell. The real concern, however, is that Novell and Microsoft have found a way to build bridges between the two worlds of open source and proprietary software. This was a bridge too far for the FSF.

GPLv3-Contract-Not-Copyright (PDF)