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Originally Posted by Stodder
Yes, I understand that you can reformat or remove "alleged" GPL code, but what happens if you have already distributed the file? Isn't it "out there" and untouchable by any reformatting?
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Yes, but so what? The GPL promotes such distribution - it doesn't prohibit it. There aren't any "damages" for the alleged violation. There's never been a case of damages awarded for a GPL violation that I know of.
More importantly, however, I just can't imagine a court concluding that adding limited formatting code (as in a format conversion) would be sufficient for the GPL to apply to non-GPL input content, such as an e-book.
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Additionally, does it go against the GPL for an end-user to intentionally remove program metadata? I.e. taking out the "OpenOffice.org" references in an OpenOffice.org PDF?
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I don't know about OpenOffice, but nothing in the GPL requires anything to be applied to the output, nor is there any prohibition on removing anything from output. Using a GPL program to produce output is not the same thing as distributing the GPL code itself.
If you have some specific scenario in mind that is of concern to you, why not spell it out?