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Quote:The Free Software Foundation is just weeks away from announcing the roadmap and process that will govern the release of the first draft of the rewritten GNU General Public License.

The first draft of GPL version 3 is expected early next year...

full article: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1879114,00.asp

info on what is likely to be in the rewritten license:

Quote:With a relatively hostile environment that has pitted proprietary software against open source as a backdrop, the Free Software Foundation, the steward of the GNU General Public License, is working on the first revamp to the license in 13 years.

he changes planned for the next release, Version 3, a draft of which is due next year, focus on several broad topics that reflect the dynamic change in the software industry since the early 1990s—intellectual property licensing and patent issues, the question of how to deal with software used over a network, and concerns around trusted computing.

full article: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1730102,00.asp
Draft 1 of the GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 3 was released on 16 January 2006

Quote:GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Discussion Draft 1 of Version 3, 16 Jan 2006

THIS IS A DRAFT, NOT A PUBLISHED VERSION OF THE GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE.

Copyright © 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

Preamble

The licenses for most software are designed to take away your
freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public
License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. We,
the Free Software Foundation, use the GNU General Public License for
most of our software; it applies also to any other program whose
authors commit to using it. (Some Free Software Foundation software
is covered by the GNU Lesser General Public License instead.) You
can apply it to your programs, too.

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for
this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it
if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it
in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to make requirements that forbid
anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.
These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you
distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that
you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their
rights.

Developers that use the GNU GPL protect your rights with two steps: (1)
assert copyright on the software, and (2) offer you this License which
gives you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software.

For the developers' and author's protection, the GPL clearly explains
that there is no warranty for this free software. If the software is
modified by someone else and passed on, the GPL ensures that recipients
are told that what they have is not the original, so that any problems
introduced by others will not reflect on the original authors'
reputations.

Some countries have adopted laws prohibiting software that enables users
to escape from Digital Restrictions Management. DRM is fundamentally
incompatible with the purpose of the GPL, which is to protect users'
freedom; therefore, the GPL ensures that the software it covers will
neither be subject to, nor subject other works to, digital restrictions
from which escape is forbidden.

Finally, every program is threatened constantly by software patents. We
wish to avoid the special danger that redistributors of a free program will
individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program
proprietary. To prevent this, the GPL makes it clear that any patent must
be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.

The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
modification follow.

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

0. Definitions.

A "licensed program" means any program or other work distributed under
this License. The "Program" refers to any such program or work, and a
"work based on the Program" means either the Program or any derivative work
under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a
portion of it, either modified or unmodified. Throughout this License, the
term "modification" includes, without limitation, translation and
extension. A "covered work" means either the Program or any work based on
the Program. Each licensee is addressed as "you".

To "propagate" a work means doing anything with it that requires
permission under applicable copyright law, other than executing it on
a computer or making private modifications. This includes copying,
distribution (with or without modification), sublicensing, and in some
countries other activities as well.

1. Source Code.

The "source code" for a work means the preferred form of the work
for making modifications to it. "Object code" means any non-source
version of a work.

The "Complete Corresponding Source Code" for a work in object code form
means all the source code needed to understand, adapt, modify, compile,
link, install, and run the work, excluding general-purpose tools used in
performing those activities but which are not part of the work. For
example, this includes any scripts used to control those activities, and
any shared libraries and dynamically linked subprograms that the work is
designed to require, such as by intimate data communication or control flow
between those subprograms and other parts of the work, and interface
definition files associated with the program source files.

Complete Corresponding Source Code also includes any encryption or
authorization codes necessary to install and/or execute the source code of
the work, perhaps modified by you, in the recommended or principal context
of use, such that its functioning in all circumstances is identical to that
of the work, except as altered by your modifications. It also includes any
decryption codes necessary to access or unseal the work's output.
Notwithstanding this, a code need not be included in cases where use of the
work normally implies the user already has it.

Complete Corresponding Source Code need not include anything that users
can regenerate automatically from other parts of the Complete Corresponding
Source Code.

As a special exception, the Complete Corresponding Source Code need
not include a particular subunit if (a) the identical subunit is
normally included as an adjunct in the distribution of either a major
essential component (kernel, window system, and so on) of the
operating system on which the executable runs or a compiler used to
produce the executable or an object code interpreter used to run it,
and (b) the subunit (aside from possible incidental extensions) serves
only to enable use of the work with that system component or compiler
or interpreter, or to implement a widely used or standard interface,
the implementation of which requires no patent license not already
generally available for software under this License.

2. Basic Permissions.

All rights granted under this License are granted for the term of
copyright on the Program, and are irrevocable provided the stated
conditions are met. This License explicitly affirms your unlimited
permission to run the Program. The output from running it is covered by
this License only if the output, given its content, constitutes a work
based on the Program. This License acknowledges your rights of "fair use"
or other equivalent, as provided by copyright law.

This License gives unlimited permission to privately modify and run the
Program, provided you do not bring suit for patent infringement against
anyone for making, using or distributing their own works based on the
Program.

Propagation of covered works is permitted without limitation provided it
does not enable parties other than you to make or receive copies.
Propagation which does enable them to do so is permitted, as
"distribution", under the conditions of sections 4-6 below.

3. Digital Restrictions Management.

As a free software license, this License intrinsically disfavors
technical attempts to restrict users' freedom to copy, modify, and share
copyrighted works. Each of its provisions shall be interpreted in light of
this specific declaration of the licensor's intent. Regardless of any
other provision of this License, no permission is given to distribute
covered works that illegally invade users' privacy, nor for modes of
distribution that deny users that run covered works the full exercise of
the legal rights granted by this License.

No covered work constitutes part of an effective technological protection
measure: that is to say, distribution of a covered work as part of a system
to generate or access certain data constitutes general permission at least
for development, distribution and use, under this License, of other
software capable of accessing the same data.

4.[1] Verbatim Copying.

You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source
code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously
and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright
notice; keep intact all license notices and notices of the absence of
any warranty; give all recipients of the Program a copy of this
License along with the Program; and obey any additional terms present
on parts of the Program in accord with section 7.

You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and
you may at your option offer warranty protection for a fee.

5.[2] Distributing Modified Source Versions.

Having modified a copy of the Program under the conditions of section
2, thus forming a work based on the Program, you may copy and distribute
such modifications or work in the form of source code under the terms of
Section 4 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:

a) The modified work must carry prominent notices stating that you
changed the work and the date of any change.

b) You must license the entire modified work, as a whole, under
this License to anyone who comes into possession of a copy. This
License must apply, unmodified except as permitted by section 7
below, to the whole of the work. This License gives no permission
to license the work in any other way, but it does not invalidate
such permission if you have separately received it.

c) If the modified work has interactive user interfaces, each must
include a convenient feature that displays an appropriate
copyright notice, and tells the user that there is no warranty for
the program (or that you provide a warranty), that users may
redistribute the modified work under these conditions, and how to
view a copy of this License together with the central list (if any) of
other terms in accord with section 7. If the interface presents a
list of user commands or options, such as a menu, a command to
display this information must be prominent in the list.
Otherwise, the modified work must display this information at
startup--except in the case that the Program has such
interactive modes and does not display this information at
startup.

These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If
identifiable sections of that work, added by you, are not derived from
the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate
works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to
those sections when you distribute them as separate works for use not
in combination with the Program. But when you distribute the same
sections for use in combination with covered works, no matter in what
form such combination occurs, the whole of the combination must be
licensed under this License, whose permissions for other licensees
extend to the entire whole, and thus to every part of the whole. Your
sections may carry other terms as part of this combination in limited
ways, described in section 7.

Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest
your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to
exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or
collective works based on the Program.

A compilation of a covered work with other separate and independent
works, which are not by their nature extensions of the covered work,
in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an
"aggregate" if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not
used to limit the legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what
the individual works permit. Mere inclusion of a covered work in an
aggregate does not cause this License to apply to the other parts of
the aggregate.

6.[3] Non-Source Distribution.

You may copy and distribute a covered work in Object Code form under the
terms of Sections 4 and 5, provided that you also distribute the
machine-readable Complete Corresponding Source Code (herein the
"Corresponding Source") under the terms of this License, in one of these
ways:

a) Distribute the Object Code in a physical product (including a
physical distribution medium), accompanied by the Corresponding Source
distributed on a durable physical medium customarily used for software
interchange; or,

b) Distribute the Object Code in a physical product (including a
physical distribution medium), accompanied by a written offer, valid
for at least three years and valid for as long as you offer spare parts
or customer support for that product model, to give any third party,
for a price no more than ten times your cost of physically performing
source distribution, a copy of the Corresponding Source for all the
software in the product that is covered by this License, on a durable
physical medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

c) Privately distribute the Object Code with a copy of the written
offer to provide the Corresponding Source. This alternative is
allowed only for occasional noncommercial distribution, and only
if you received the Object Code with such an offer, in accord with
Subsection b above. Or,

d) Distribute the Object Code by offering access to copy it
from a designated place, and offer equivalent access to copy
the Corresponding Source in the same way through the same place.
You need not require recipients to copy the Corresponding Source
along with the Object Code.

[If the place to copy the Object Code is a network server, the
Corresponding Source may be on a different server that supports
equivalent copying facilities, provided you have explicitly
arranged with the operator of that server to keep the
Corresponding Source available for as long as needed to satisfy
these requirements, and provided you maintain clear directions
next to the Object Code saying where to find the Corresponding
Source.]

Distribution of the Corresponding Source in accord with this section
must be in a format that is publicly documented, unencumbered by
patents, and must require no special password or key for unpacking,
reading or copying.

The Corresponding Source may include portions which do not formally
state this License as their license, but qualify under section 7
for inclusion in a work under this License.

7. License Compatibility.

When you release a work based on the Program, you may include your own
terms covering added parts for which you have, or can give,
appropriate copyright permission, as long as those terms clearly permit
all the activities that this License permits, or permit usage or
relicensing under this License. Your terms may be written separately or
may be this License plus additional written permission. If you so license
your own added parts, those parts may be used separately under your
terms, but the entire work remains under this License. Those who copy
the work, or works based on it, must preserve your terms just as they
must preserve this License, as long as any substantial portion of the parts
they apply to are present.

Aside from additional permissions, your terms may add limited kinds of
additional requirements on your added parts, as follows:

a) They may require the preservation of certain copyright notices,
other legal notices, and/or author attributions, and may require
that the origin of the parts they cover not be misrepresented,
and/or that altered versions of them be marked in the source code,
or marked there in specific reasonable ways, as different from the
original version.

b) They may state a disclaimer of warranty and liability in terms
different from those used in this License.

c) They may prohibit or limit the use for publicity purposes of specified
names of contributors, and they may require that certain specified
trademarks be used for publicity purposes only in the ways that are
fair use under trademark law except with express permission.

d) They may require that the work contain functioning facilities that
allow users to immediately obtain copies of its Complete Corresponding
Source Code.

e) They may impose software patent retaliation, which means permission
for use of your added parts terminates or may be terminated, wholly or
partially, under stated conditions, for users closely related to any
party that has filed a software patent lawsuit (i.e., a lawsuit
alleging that some software infringes a patent). The conditions must
limit retaliation to a subset of these two cases: 1. Lawsuits that lack
the justification of retaliating against other software patent lawsuits
that lack such justification. 2. Lawsuits that target part of this
work, or other code that was elsewhere released together with the parts
you added, the whole being under the terms used here for those parts.

No other additional conditions are permitted in your terms; therefore, no
other conditions can be present on any work that uses this License. This
License does not attempt to enforce your terms, or assert that they are
valid or enforceable by you; it simply does not prohibit you from employing
them.

When others modify the work, if they modify your parts of it, they may
release such parts of their versions under this License without additional
permissions, by including notice to that effect, or by deleting the notice
that gives specific permissions in addition to this License. Then any
broader permissions granted by your terms which are not granted by this
License will not apply to their modifications, or to the modified versions
of your parts resulting from their modifications. However, the specific
requirements of your terms will still apply to whatever was derived from
your added parts.

Unless the work also permits distribution under a previous version of
this License, all the other terms included in the work under this section
must be listed, together, in a central list in the work.

8.[4] Termination.

You may not propagate, modify or sublicense the Program except as
expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to
propagate, modify or sublicense the Program is void, and any copyright
holder may terminate your rights under this License at any time after
having notified you of the violation by any reasonable means within 60
days of any occurrence. However, parties who have received copies, or
rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses
terminated so long as they remain in full compliance.

9.[5] Not a Contract.

You are not required to accept this License in order to receive a copy of
the Program. However, nothing else grants you permission to propagate or
modify the Program or any covered works. These actions infringe copyright
if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or propagating
the Program (or any covered work), you indicate your acceptance of this
License to do so, and all its terms and conditions.

10.[6] Automatic Licensing of Downstream Users.

Each time you redistribute a covered work, the recipient automatically
receives a license from the original licensors, to propagate and modify
that work, subject to this License, including any additional terms
introduced through section 7. You may not impose any further restrictions
on the recipients' exercise of the rights thus granted or affirmed, except
(when modifying the work) in the limited ways permitted by section 7. You
are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this
License.

11. Licensing of Patents.

When you distribute a covered work, you grant a patent license to
the recipient, and to anyone that receives any version of the work,
permitting, for any and all versions of the covered work, all
activities allowed or contemplated by this License, such as
installing, running and distributing versions of the work, and using
their output. This patent license is nonexclusive, royalty-free and
worldwide, and covers all patent claims you control or have the right
to sublicense, at the time you distribute the covered work or in the
future, that would be infringed or violated by the covered work or any
reasonably contemplated use of the covered work.

If you distribute a covered work knowingly relying on a patent license,
you must act to shield downstream users against the possible patent
infringement claims from which your license protects you.

12.[7] Liberty or Death for the Program.

If conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or
otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not
excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute
the Program, or other covered work, so as to satisfy simultaneously your
obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as
a consequence you may not distribute it at all. For example, if a patent
license would not permit royalty-free redistribution by all those who
receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you
could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from
distribution.

It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
patents or other exclusive rights or to contest their legal validity.
The sole purpose of this section is to protect the integrity of the
free software distribution system. Many people have made generous
contributions to the wide range of software distributed through that
system in reliance on consistent application of that system; it is up
to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing to distribute
software through any other system and a licensee cannot impose that
choice.

[13.[8] Geographical Limitations.

If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain
countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original
copyright holder who places the Program under this License may add an
explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries,
so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus
excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if
written in the body of this License.]

14.[9] Revised Versions of this License.

The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of
the GNU General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will
be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to
address new problems or concerns.

Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
specifies that a certain numbered version of this License "or any
later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the
terms and conditions either of that numbered version or of any later
version published by the Free Software Foundation. If the Program
does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any
version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.

15.[10] Requesting Exceptions.

If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author
to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free
Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes
make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals
of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and
of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.

NO WARRANTY

16.[11] There is no warranty for the Program, to the extent permitted by
applicable law. Except when otherwise stated in writing the copyright
holders and/or other parties provide the Program "as is" without warranty
of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to,
the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular
purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the Program
is with you. Should the Program prove defective, you assume the cost of
all necessary servicing, repair or correction.

17.[12] In no event unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing
will any copyright holder, or any other party who may modify and/or
redistribute the Program as permitted above, be liable to you for damages,
including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising
out of the use or inability to use the Program (including but not limited
to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by
you or third parties or a failure of the Program to operate with any other
programs), even if such holder or other party has been advised of the
possibility of such damages.

18. Unless specifically stated, the Program has not been tested for use
in safety critical systems.

END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.

To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest
to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.


Copyright ©

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA


Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.

If the program does terminal interaction, make it output a short
notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode:

Gnomovision version 69, Copyright © year name of author
Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.

The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate
parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands you use may
be called something other than `show w' and `show c'; for a GUI interface,
you would use an "About box" instead.

You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if
necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:

Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program
`Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.

, 1 April 1989
Rich R. Thanus, Peripheral Visionary

For more information on how to apply and follow the GNU GPL, see
http://www.gnu.org/licenses.

The GNU General Public License does not permit incorporating your program
into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you
may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with
the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General
Public License instead of this License.
Linux founder rejects GPL v3

Quote:Linux founder Linus Torvalds has spoken out against the proposed changes in the forthcoming version 3 of the General Public License that governs the operating system. "The Linux kernel is under the GPL version 2. Not anything else," he said.

The proposed update for the license takes on digital rights management by requiring that software developers refrain from using DRM copyright protection in combination with any GPL3 product. This would prevent device manufacturers such as TiVo and Linksys from using Linux to power their digital video recorders or media adapters.

full article: http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/Kjvxsd...inux.xhtml
A related article and interview with Linux creator Linus Torvalds:

Quote:Fans of open source software have been buzzing since Linus Torvalds, creator of the popular Linux operating system, indicated he wouldn't adopt a new version of the license under which Linux is distributed. Torvalds' opinion matters because his program is by far the most popular open source program in the world.

The new version of the GNU General Public License, or GPLv3 as it is known, was authored by Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman and adds new restrictions to the license. Torvalds isn't crazy about the new rules but says he still might sign on if changes are made...


full article: http://www.forbes.com/technology/2006/03...alds1.html
Update: Linux inventor Linus Torvalds remains critical of GPv3.

Quote:The second draft of a revised General Public License has been released, but Linus Torvalds--founder and leader of the best-known software project governed by the GPL--remains unconvinced of its merits.

Torvalds' concern is with the clause in the GPLv3 second draft regarding digital rights management (DRM) technology, which puts controls on how computers can run software or supply content such as movies or music.

Whereas the GPL version 2 was a basic "quid pro quo" arrangement that required anyone modifying source code to make the changes public, the draft of GPLv3 extends much further, Torvalds argued...

full article: http://news.com.com/Torvalds+critical+of...g=nefd.top

Quote: Linus Torvalds had harsh comments about the committees organized by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) to help it draft version 3 of the GNU Public License (GPLv3). However, so far as NewsForge can determine, none of those actually involved in the process agree with Torvalds' assessment that the FSF isn't listening to feedback.

Shortly after the second draft of the GPLv3 was released, Torvalds was quoted in a story by Stephen Shankland as saying "The FSF doesn't even seem interested in any feedback. They set up several 'committees' to get comments from various industry players, and everything I've heard about the process is that they then ignored them all and did what they wanted anyway."...

full article: http://trends.newsforge.com/trends/06/08...ml?tid=147&tid=138

The GPLv3 web site: http://gplv3.fsf.org/
current draft of the GPL: http://gplv3.fsf.org/draft
Business Week has an article on the battle over GPLv3 license terms

Quote:Disagreements over what should be included in the free software license's next version have pitted the movement's leaders against each other

Say the letters G, P, and L in that order around most folks and you're likely to be met with a blank stare. But try dropping them around the open-source crowd, especially in proximity to San Francisco this mid-August, and you'll get a very different response: everything from fist-pumping to hand-wringing.

... the impetus to make a profit (and its associated compromises) isn't sitting well with true believers in free software. And the resulting rifts were apparent at last week's LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco. On one side is Richard Stallman and his Free Software Foundation. When Stallman says "free" he doesn't mean price, he means freedom. He believes all software should be freely available to be modified by the public. And for him, this is nothing short of a moral fight....

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/c...977941.htm
The latest development in the GPL v3 debate:

Quote: MySQL changes license to avoid GPLv3

Here’s an announcement that almost got drowned out by festive cheer: MySQL has changed the license it uses for its open source database management system to avoid being forced to move to the forthcoming GPL v3.

Kaj Arno, MySQL VP of community relations, revealed the license change on his blog, on December 22, noting that the license for MySQL 5.0 and 5.1 had changed from "GPLv2 or later" to "GPLv2 only". As he explained, this was “in order to make it an option, not an obligation for the company to move to GPLv3”...

full article: http://www.businessreviewonline.com/os/a...ges_l.html
A related article:

Quote: The official release of the third version of the GNU General Public License (GPLv3) is still a couple of months away, yet already, the misunderstandings about it are almost as numerous as those for the second version (GPLv2).

Some of these misunderstandings are due to the lengthy and public revision process for GPLv3, which offers plenty of opportunity for rumors and misreadings. Others may be due to the extensive rewriting of several key sections of GPLv3, notably the language on patents and TiVoization, during the process, so that people are concerned about issues from earlier drafts that the current one corrects or addresses. Still others seem due to willful misunderstandings by opponents of free and open source software. Perhaps, too, the fact that GPLv3 is more obviously a legal document in structure and content than GPLv2 adds to the confusion. But, whatever the origins of the misunderstandings, many have gained currency in both the media and some parts of the free and open source software community.

To separate the confusions and half-truths from the reality, we went to the source: members of the Free Software Foundation (FSF)...and the Software Freedom Law Center..., who is one of the main drafters of the new license. Taken together, their comments help to create a clearer picture of the goals behind GPLv3 and the final form that the license will probably take...

full article: http://www.itmanagersjournal.com/feature/23144
GPLv3 has been officially released: http://gplv3.fsf.org/
GPLv3: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html
LGPGv3: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.html

Quote:The release comes after 18 months of intensive public consultation, and another couple of years of internal planning by the FSF before that. In a move unprecedented in both the free software and legal communities, the FSF, together with the Software Freedom Law Center, convened four committees consisting of more than 50 community and corporate representatives to help write the license. Comments from the public were solicited at meetings around the world, and on a site where anyone could add their thoughts on the text of the license. The actual license was written primarily by Eben Moglen and Richard Fontana of the Software Freedom Law Center, with input from Stallman and experts such as David Turner, former compliance engineer at the FSF...

full article: http://www.linux.com/feature/115650