A new "use" clause in the OSD

Tue Aug 6 15:05:33 UTC 2002

> OSD#11: A license must not restrict the use or modification of the
> software in any way except the following: it may disclaim warranties,
> it may grant limited patent use rights, it may specify arbitration, it
> may suspend use rights if the user sues for patent infringement, and
> it may prohibit modifications which remove legal information.
> 

It's a start, I guess.  But does the GPL pass?  The GPL basically
says "you shall not [modify] unless you also [distribute]".

Is that a "restriction" under this proposed OSD#11?
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I think "use" is a very poor choice of word, it does not have a
well-defined meaning.

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In the U.S. at least, I think it is sufficient to say that the
recipient must be an "owner of the copy" (and then the fair-use
exemptions for software apply.)  But of course, you can't tie
the OSD to any particular body of law.

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