I should also like to clear up the details of the GNU Public Licence. The GNU licence is not about software being free of charge. It is about freedom: allowing the user of the code to do with it what they will. The licence actually comes in two forms: the GPL and the LGPL. The GPL allows use of the software in commercial or freely distributable software. The restriction, however, is that the distributor of the software must make the source code available and must pass on the same rights of freedom; any code linked into an executable with GPL code must also fall under the GPL. Thus a product may be sold including GPL code, but the purchaser has the right to distribute the product without restriction, either for a fee or at no cost.

The LGPL, on the other hand, allows freedom of distribution (either commercially or at no cost), but allows executable programs to be created which do not require the LGPL code to be distributed and can be sold with the usual commercial restrictions. Thus the genome model better fits the LGPL. The original gene data should be completely free and shared throughout the community. Companies would then be free to exploit that information and to create patentable commercial products based on it. More than one company would be able to exploit the same gene, putting an end to the current 'land grab'4.

Andrew C. R. Martin
School of Animal and Microbial Sciences
University of Reading
PO Box 228
Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AJ, UK

References

1. Russ, A. P., Aparicio, S. A. J. R. & Carlton, M. B. L. Nature 404, 809 (2000).
2. Alberts, B. & Klug, A. Nature 404, 325 (2000). Links
3. Alberts, B. & Klug, A. Nature 404, 542 (2000).
4. Gavaghan, H. Nature 404, 684-686 (2000). Links

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