Eiffel Forum License

[Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.]

The Eiffel "license" is quite permissive. It is quite the opposite of the
ATT license in that it may be too "permissive" to constitute an enforceable
agreement...in that it appears to lack consideration. I am most troubled by
the fact that there seem to be NO restrictions on the use of the software.
(The use of the phrase "without license" in a public license is slightly
self-effacing and unreliable). It's fairly well-acknowledged that public
licenses cannot really prematurely push software into the public domain. The
question is: what are you attempting to accomplish by use of a public
license.  Your license has no copyleft provision. Why? There is no explicit
reference to access to source code. Why? These questions are meant to get
you started on considering what your goals are first. Then, draft the
license you think will accomplish those goals.

Rod


___________________________________
Rod Dixon
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
Rutgers University School of Law - Camden
www.cyberspaces.org
rod at cyberspaces.org

Chief Counsel, Cyberlaw
FreeBuyers Net, LLC
www.freebuyersnet.com
dixon at freebuyersnet.com



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Patrick Doyle [mailto:doylep at ecf.utoronto.ca]
> Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2000 9:38 AM
> To: license-discuss at opensource.org
> Subject: Eiffel Forum License
>
>
>
> As requested, below is the Eiffel Forum License.  It's quite short.
>
> --
> Patrick Doyle
> doylep at ecf.toronto.edu
>
>
> --------------------
>
> Eiffel Forum License, version 1
>
> Permission is hereby granted, without written agreement and without
> license or royalty fees, to use, copy, modify and/or distribute this
> package, provided that:
>
>   - copyright notices are retained unchanged
>
>   - any distribution of this package, whether modified or not,
>     includes this file
>
> Permission is hereby also granted, without written agreement and
> without license or royalty fees, to distribute binary programs which
> depend on this package, provided that:
>
>   - if the binary program depends on a modified version of this
>     package, you must publicly release the modified version of this
>     package
>
> THIS PACKAGE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY. ANY EXPRESS OR
> IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
> WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
> DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR
> ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
> DAMAGES ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS PACKAGE.
>
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