Revoking Open Source license, for specific individuals

gpllicensingopen source

I develop an open source Android application, which is licensed under GPL and freely available on Github.
It is currently under heavy development, therefore it isn't published in the Play Store yet.

What can I do, if someone decides to publish it in the Play Store,

  • without modifying the code (just build it from my repo and upload it, same package name).
  • with modifying the source code and publishing it on Github under same license.
  • and modify the code but don't publish the code under the same license.

Best Answer

The first two actions are completely fine. That’s all allowed by the GPL. If you want to restrict it, your only option might be to trademark the name; still, anyone is free to publish the app under a different name.

Regarding the third point, do you mean that the modified app isn’t published at all, but only used privately? That would be fine as well. Or do you mean that the modified app is distributed without any source code, or with source code under a different license? That would be a violation of the GPL, and you could take legal actions to try and stop it.

Generally, you can’t restrict the GPL to only some people. Everyone is free to use, modify or distribute a GPLed program, as long as they abide by the terms of the license.

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