Free documentation licenses

[John Cowan]

Rick Moen wrote:

> > Well, that's not the whole truth either.  I could take a bunch of
> > BSD modules, create a derivative work, and license the result under
> > the GPL.  Or under a proprietary license, for that matter.
> 
> No, not exactly (unless you _own copyright_ on those modules).  I don't
> think you're quite understanding my point:
> 
> You would remain bound to the obligations of those modules' BSD licence.
> (But, of course, there _are_ no BSD-licence obligations to speak of.)
> The modules' individual copyright & licence statements would have to
> remain intact in copies of the source code.  Otherwise, you are
> violating the copyright holder's terms.

Everything you say is true.

However, the *derivative work* itself is your creation (minimal as that
creation is) and has its own copyright. To that copyright you can attach
a license, as long as it is not inconsistent with the licenses of the
components.   In the alternative, it is a compilation, and then you can
assert a compilation copyright which need not even be consistent
(a proprietary CD can contain GPLed software, e.g.)

> > Of course, this is somewhat pointless, since you could do exactly
> > the same thing with the same modules and license it under a different
> > license.
> 
> I'm having a difficult time parsing the above sentence.  Perhaps after
> coffee, I'll have an easier time.

Assume the existence of modules A and B, licensed as BSD, which neither you
nor I wrote.  I then create work X by combining A and B into a single
file/package.  I can issue X under the GPL.  You cannot then add proprietary
module C to it.

However, you can go back to A and B and create a proprietary program A+B+C,
bypassing X altogether, so what I have done doesn't limit you in any practical
way.

All of this is fairly theoretical, of course, since people usually add
at least one module of their own when creating a program; programs built
*entirely* out of existing parts, without even any glue, are probably rare.

-- 
There is / one art                   || John Cowan <jcowan at reutershealth.com>
no more / no less                    || http://www.reutershealth.com
to do / all things                   || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
with art- / lessness                 \\ -- Piet Hein