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 :* There is a contradiction in the terms where the license grants perpetual rights to the public while it can only last as long as the copyright.

GNU General Public License Location: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html

Excerpt “Copyright © 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software—to make sure the software is free for all its users (...)

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish) (...)

We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software (. . .)

Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents. We wish to avoid the danger that re-distributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone’s free use or not licensed at all (. . .)

This License applies to any program or other work which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the terms of this General Public License (. . .)

Activities other than copying, distribution, and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope (. . .)