Do you have to pay for GNU GPL software that is "for sale"?

Posted by DisgruntledGoat on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by DisgruntledGoat
Published on 2009-11-17T15:31:42Z Indexed on 2010/05/13 18:04 UTC
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gnu

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gpl

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free

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legal

I've seen some software (a Joomla component, to be exact) for sale on a web site. The web site says it is licensed under the GNU GPL2. However it also says you need to pay for every site you use the software on (with bulk discounts).

I know it's perfectly acceptable to sell software under the GPL, however the license implies that the source code must be distributed at no cost.

So is this a legitimate use of the GPL, or is it violating the license? Is it legal to download the software for free (say, from Bittorrent) and use it as I wish?

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