Re: Do I have to release the patch for a GPL software under GPL?

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

   > What I trying to say is there ARE some intelligent properties in
   > the patch which we want to keep under our control, but we never
   > want to put any restriction on any one else. So can we protect
   > our own tiny patch not to be public?

   As long as those "intelligent properties" in your patch don't
   contain any protected expression (google the AFC test) from the
   GPL'd work you can license those portions of your patch under any
   terms you like.

This is true. But as long as you incoperate those `intelligent
properties'[0] with a GNU GPLed work, in which case you must license
them under the GNU GPL.  As such, a patch (a patch by definition is
something that is used to modify an already existing work, and in this
case a GNU GPLed work) is based on another work, and thus forms a
modification to an already GNU GPLed work, and thus the modifications
must be licensed under the GPL GPL (see section 2).

I.e. once again you are simply wrong and blabbering.

[0]: Now, what `intelligent properties' really means can be guessed,
but I will assume anything that can be copyrighted since that is the
only thing that makes sense.