FW: tomsrtbt license, take 4

[lrosen at rosenlaw.com]

Tom, I've been reading the email about your license without commenting
publicly, because I don't want to be giving you legal advice in a public
forum.  But I do have a few comments that may be generally helpful.

Software licenses are not jokes.  They are not appropriate places for
humorous quips such as "DAMN WELL SHOULD, PRETTY PLEASE" or "if it breaks
keep both pieces" or "imbibe." If you expect a court to take your license
seriously when someone misuses your software, you should be precise,
unambiguous, and legally appropriate.  Consult a lawyer if you want your
license to be taken seriously.

If, on the other hand, you simply want to contribute your software to the
world at large without imposing lots of restrictions while at the same time
protecting yourself from liability, then why don't you use one of the
already-approved licenses listed on the OSI website?  The BSD license is the
simplest, but if it doesn't meet your needs, consider one of the more
complicated ones that contains more specific terms and conditions.

OSI is being inudated with requests to approve licenses.  Those licenses
that are not serious -- indeed, not even taken seriously by the people who
submit them -- should probably be placed on the bottom of the queue for
consideration by the busy board of directors.

/Larry Rosen

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Tom Oehser [mailto:tom at toms.net]
>Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2001 8:03 AM
>To: license-discuss at opensource.org
>Subject: tomsrtbt license, take 4
>
>
>
>OK, this should be unambiguous enough for anyone, and I fixed the
>problem someone pointed out that it was too wide to quote in an email
>reply without screwing up the formatting:
>
> **************************************************************************
> * This copyright covers tomsrtbt as a whole and any components which may *
> * be so protected.  Some components are covered by other licenses and/or *
> * copyrights such as the GPL which prohibit additional restrictions, for *
> * these components construe "MUST" as "DAMN WELL SHOULD, PRETTY
>PLEASE". *
> *                                                                        *
> * You MUST credit the source of what you are redistributing as tomsrtbt, *
> * from http://www.toms.net/rb/, Tom at Toms.NET, Copyright Tom Oehser 2001, *
> * and include this entire notice, verbatim.  Tomsrtbt has no warranties, *
> * not even implied fitness or usefulness, if it breaks keep both pieces. *
> *                                                                        *
> * Under these strictures you may freely redistribute, incorporate, copy, *
> * imbibe, modify, or do anything else to it or with it that you care to. *
> **************************************************************************
>
>-Tom