On 4/14/07, Steve Summit scs@eskimo.com wrote:
Jossi Fresco wrote:
My reading of the above is that one you submit material to WP "you can never retract the GFDL" and that the "GFDL is forever".
You can never retract the GFDL *from the copy you posted to Wikipedia*. (What this means is that you can't "take the words back" from Wikipedia, or attempt to unrelease them.) However, you can do anything you like with those words elsewhere.
It's unclear whether or not it's true that you can't retract the GFDL. I've read before that if the GFDL is considered a waiver then it can be retracted at any time.
Also note that the rights under the GFDL are automatically terminated whenever you "copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided for under this License". And considering the fact that pretty much no one uses GFDL-contributed texts "as expressly provided for under" the GFDL, that means pretty much everyone has already had their rights under the GFDL terminated. This part will probably be fixed in the next version of the GFDL.
Finally, it seems to me it'd be near impossible for anyone but the WMF to show in court that the copyright holder ever licensed the work under the GFDL in the first place.
So if a copyright holder ever really wanted to take back the GFDL-licensed text, it seems it'd be incredibly easy for them to do so.
Anthony