copyright discussion

[Randy Kramer]

JEETUN6 at aol.com wrote:
> how can I ensure that I get e-mailed further discussions on this list?

JEETUN6,

You can subscribe to this list by sending an email to
license-discuss-subscribe at opensource.org.

There are archives of this list somewhere (a link has been published on
the list -- I know -- that doesn't help much), and one of the "members"
of the list has started a summary of "significant" open source
licenses.  When I find that link I'll post it for you.

For me, the discussion on this list is sometimes confusing and hard to
follow, as there are quite a few different licenses and different terms
associated with each.  In answer to some of the questions in your
previous post, there are restrictions on further use in some sense, and
sometimes a fee can be charged.  I hesitate to describe either of those,
for fear of stating them incorrectly, but I'll make a brief try.

Restrictions: most copyleft licenses restrict you in that if you create
a derived work from a copylefted work, you must license the derived work
under the same license as the original work from which it was derived. 
The intent (as I see it) is to prevent someone from taking freely
licensed code and making it proprietary.

Fee: a reasonable fee for copying can be charged, or a fee for other
services (like support or a warranty) (and maybe even a fee for the
software product), but it is subject to the natural limiting effect that
someone can obtain the software from anyone else who has a copy for free
(or a different copying fee set by them).

As someone else has requested, please adjust your email client so it
sends email as plain text.  If you don't know how to do this, try
checking: http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Test/AvoidHTMLinEmail.  If you
are using an email client without instructions listed there, write back
and I'll see if I (or someone else) can help you.

regards,
Randy Kramer
--
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