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I just found out that a company has a copy of a GPLed program, and it costs money to get it. Aren they violating the GPL by not making it available on the Internet?

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I just found out that a company has a copy of a GPLed program, and it costs money to get it. Aren they violating the GPL by not making it available on the Internet?

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No. The GPL does not require anyone to use the Internet for distribution. It also does not require anyone in particular to redistribute the program. And (outside of one special case), even if someone does decide to redistribute the program sometimes, the GPL doesn’t say he has to distribute a copy to you in particular, or any other person in particular. What the GPL requires is that he must have the freedom to distribute a copy to you if he wishes to. Once the copyright holder does distribute a copy program to someone, that someone can then redistribute the program to you, or to anyone else, as he sees fit.

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