A practical example of a click-wrap license

Tammie Panar tammie.gorzelsky at jda.com
Mon Aug 5 19:55:00 UTC 2002


I am by no means very familiar with the law, or the proper terminology, but
something strikes me as peculiar here.

Say I personally don't agree with the licensing terms of License "X", and
will only use software licensed under License "W". I then decide that I am
not going to use any software that is licensed under the terms of License
"X". Would clicking the "I Agree" button bind me to any of the licensing
terms of License "X", even if I am not installing it?

I guess that means am I assenting to the terms of License "X" by assenting
to the license terms of License "W"? Or am I even misusing the term
"assenting"?

A bit befuddled,
-Tammie

Note: I don't think asking these questions would classify as seeking legal
advice, but if so, that is not my intent, and if I can ask the questions
another way, please tell me.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lawrence E. Rosen [mailto:lrosen at rosenlaw.com]
> Sent: Monday, August 05, 2002 3:39 PM
> To: 'Bruce Perens'; 'John Cowan'
> Cc: license-discuss at opensource.org; 'Brian Behlendorf'
> Subject: RE: A practical example of a click-wrap license
> 
> 
> Bruce,
> 
> You wrote:
> > The only approach that I can think of that does scale would 
> > be a click-through regarding licenses in the aggregate rather 
> > than a signular license. This could be done when a 
> > distribution installs, or on something else than Linux, when 
> > a package installer is first instantiated on a system.
> 
> You've made an excellent suggestion.  Here's a possible wording of a
> distribution click-wrap notice.  I do not consider this wording
> authoritative or final and I encourage suggestions:
> 
>   By clicking on "I AGREE" below, you indicate
>   your acceptance of the software programs
>   included on this distribution under the terms
>   and conditions of the licenses applicable to 
>   each of them.  
> 
>   You acknowledge that some or all of this software
>   is being distributed under open source licenses 
>   that allow you to copy the software, create
>   modification to it, and distribute those copies
>   and modifications, and that some or all of those
>   licenses also require that you publish the source
>   code of any copies or modifications that you
>   distribute.  Source code for all open source 
>   software included on this distribution is included
>   with the distribution or is available from the
>   distributor[ at www.xxxxxx.com].
> 
>   YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SOME OR ALL OF THESE SOFTWARE
>   PROGRAMS ARE DISTRIBUTED AS-IS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY,
>   INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR
>   A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.  [YOU 
>   FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE DISTRIBUTOR IS PROVIDING
>   THIS DISTRIBUTION AS-IS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, 
>   INCLUDE THE WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR
>   A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.]
> 
>   The name of each software program on this
>   distribution and its applicable license is listed
>   on the file LICENSE.TXT on this disk[, which you
>   can read by clicking on "REVIEW THE LICENSES" below].  
> 
>   The software programs on this distribution are
>   protected by copyright law in the United States
>   and other countries, and by international treaty,
>   or by one or more patents.  You understand and agree
>   that the installation, use, copying, modification,
>   and distribution of this software is prohibited by
>   law unless you agree to the applicable licenses.  
> 
>   You will be permitted to install and use the 
>   software programs included on this distribution
>   only if you click "I AGREE" below.  
> 
> /Larry Rosen
> 
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