hi,

[I posted this question in smoothiware forum and got no replies, so thought of posting here.]
I understand that Smoothie is GPLV3, which requires any derivative work to be open sourced. How do you define derivative work in this context? For example, I see some hardware controller vendors who sell smoothie supported controller cards with smoothie pre-flashed. Does this qualify as derivative work? If so how do they distribute their product (hardware card) without open sourcing the hardware?
My main requirement is actually to use smoothie supported card such as SmoothieBoard, Cohesion3D Remix or Azteeg in a commercial machine. When I sell the machine, the controller card has to be loaded with smoothie firmware. There will also be a closed source commercial software that run on user's PC which will interface with this controller card. Can I do this under this license?

Thanks
S