Eiffel Forum License

[David Johnson]

On Sun, 30 Apr 2000, Patrick Doyle wrote:

> Legally, you can do two things:
> 
> 1. Adhere to the terms of the license.
> 2. Don't make copies of the software.
> 
> Is it not that simple?  (Please excuse my ignorance.  :-)

That's the way I have always viewed licenses. You have a limited set of
rights to the copy of the software you own. In order to get additional
rights, they must be be granted by the author. Most software licenses,
free or otherwise, impose conditions along with the permissions, such as
"you may redistribute this program provided that you also redistribute
the source code."

I have a big problem with "license agreements". They state that "by
using this program you agree to ...". They rarely grant additional
permissions, but restrict the legal rights to the copy that you already
have. For example, you have the right to make archival copies of your
own copies. But many licenses severly restrict this. From what I can
gather from the wisdom on this list, they only way they can do this is
by asserting that the license is a contract and that you have legally
*agreed* to be bound by these restrictions. I still dispute that I have
entered into an agreement. I already have the right to use the program
and to make archival copies for my own personal use. By rejecting their
"agreement", I still have the rights over my copy that copyright gives
me.

Remember though, IANAL.

-- 
David Johnson...
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