From owner-freebsd-current Thu Aug 23 1:10: 2 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from avocet.mail.pas.earthlink.net (avocet.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.121.50]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4379437B409 for ; Thu, 23 Aug 2001 01:09:58 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from cjc@earthlink.net) Received: from blossom.cjclark.org (dialup-209.247.137.194.Dial1.SanJose1.Level3.net [209.247.137.194]) by avocet.mail.pas.earthlink.net (EL-8_9_3_3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id BAA17270; Thu, 23 Aug 2001 01:09:40 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from cjc@localhost) by blossom.cjclark.org (8.11.4/8.11.3) id f7N89PI80665; Thu, 23 Aug 2001 01:09:25 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from cjc) Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 01:09:25 -0700 From: "Crist J. Clark" To: Andrew Kenneth Milton Cc: freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Copyright Contradiction in libalias (Summary) Message-ID: <20010823010925.H78008@blossom.cjclark.org> Reply-To: cjclark@alum.mit.edu References: <20010821091441.F21855@zeus.theinternet.com.au> <006e01c12a43$48f9cb30$3028680a@tgt.com> <20010821114020.T313@blossom.cjclark.org> <20010821231841.B96292@hades.hell.gr> <20010821153116.Z313@blossom.cjclark.org> <15234.58543.854779.892964@nomad.yogotech.com> <20010821162913.B313@blossom.cjclark.org> <20010823014158.B4824@hades.hell.gr> <20010823092518.N21855@zeus.theinternet.com.au> <20010823095027.O21855@zeus.theinternet.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <20010823095027.O21855@zeus.theinternet.com.au>; from akm@theinternet.com.au on Thu, Aug 23, 2001 at 09:50:27AM +1000 Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Thu, Aug 23, 2001 at 09:50:27AM +1000, Andrew Kenneth Milton wrote: > I guess we can summarize now? :-) > > 1) If you are the author of software, it's a bad idea to simply release code > into the Public Domain, mainly because you can't protect your self from > litigation by placing disclaimers in your code. I don't remember that coming up. Licensing doesn't necessarily have anything to do with a copyright. I can tag whatever licensing restrictions I want on _my distribution_ of a public domain work (whether I am the original author or not). As an analogy, take the example of BSD-licensed code where someone else owns the copyright (like anything in FreeBSD). Provided I follow the limited restrictions of the BSD-license, I can pile additional licensing terms on top of that. I am not the copyright holder, but I can modify the licensing on _my distribution_ of the code (the terms under which I give it to someone else). It is the same situation with public domain code. I don't own the copyright (because no one does), but I can still license my distribution of the code how ever I want (e.g. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES blah, blah, blah...). Very sorry I sent this thread to a list rather than just go to the committer who made the license change. -- Crist J. Clark cjclark@alum.mit.edu To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message