Given that XAware 5 will be licensed under the GPLv2, is there any risk to my proprietary applications or data being subject to the terms of the GPL?
Many companies use GPLv2 licensed software with proprietary applications and have done so for many years. However, the scope of the GPLv2 is uncertain. The GPLv2 requires that the software licensed under the GPLv2 and any modifications of the GPLv2 licensed software must be licensed under the GPLv2. Modifications are defined as “derivative works” which is a specially defined term under United States copyright law: “it is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a ‘derivative work’.”. The scope of derivative work for software is not certain. In the United States, the appellate courts have three
