[WikiEN-l] Escaping the GFDL -- can it be done?

[Andrew Gray]

On 02/03/06, Mark Wagner <carnildo at gmail.com> wrote:

> "Permission is granted to copy, distribute, and/or modify this
> document under the Gnu Free Documentation License, version 1.2 or any
> later version published by the Free Software Foundation"
>
> This means that if GFDL 2.0 comes out as a verbatim copy of the
> Creative Commons 2.5 Attribution Share-Alike license, then all of
> Wikipedia is effectively dual-licensed under GFDL 1.2 and CC-BY-SA
> 2.5, and anyone re-using the content can pick whichever license they
> want.

I'm not sure about that.

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html - section ten, first paragraph

>> The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised
>> versions of the GNU Free Documentation 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.

I think you could make a case, based on the "similar in spirit"
clause, that this hypothetical version 1.3 was *not* a revised version
of the GFDL, but rather a new license which shared a name with the old
one - it didn't comply with the terms set out in earlier versions to
define what a later revision would consist of.

I wouldn't want to pay for your lawyers, mind, but it's not a
frivolous argument.

--
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk