Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 16:04:53 -0700 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: The GPL and the Robinson-Patman Act Message-ID: <4.1.19990222155920.0404e9d0@mail.lariat.org>
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One concern I've always had about the GPL and the FSF is that they appear to violate the Robinson-Patman Act. They make code free to users, free to developers of GPLed software, and expensive or utterly unattainable to developers of commercial software. Richard Stallman specifically states that an effect of the GPL will be to remove software from the realm of competition. Is this illegal price discrimination? Here's a copy of the relevant language: The Robinson-Patman Act, 15 U.S.C.A. Section 13 Section 13. Discrimination in price, services, or facilities (a) Price; selection of customers. It shall be unlawful for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, either directly or indirectly, to discriminate in price between different purchasers of commodities of like grade and quality, where either or any of the purchases involved in such discrimination are in commerce, where such commodities are sold for use, consumption, or resale within the United States or any Territory thereof or the District of Columbia or any insular possession or other place under the jurisdiction of the United States, and where the effect of such discrimination may be substantially to lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly in any line of commerce, or to injure, destroy, or prevent competition with any person who either grants or knowingly receives the benefit of such discrimination, or with customers of either of them.... Hmmm. Sounds like there could be a case here. --Brett Glass To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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