The Simple Permissive License, v0.1

Mikko Valimaki mikko.valimaki at hiit.fi
Sat Feb 9 17:38:05 UTC 2002


Hello,

I think your simple versions can be simplified even further. What about
this:

> (C) [year] [author]
> 
> Copying, distribution and modification of this software is allowed.
> No warranty: use at your own risk.

You don't need to say anything about things that are default in
copyright law. It is default that author's 'moral rights' including the
copyright notice may not be removed unless the work is substantially
modified. 

Also, you don't need to say anything about the use of the software:
copyright law knows only rights to copy, distribute and modify works. By
default these acts are not allowed without author's permission. Hence,
the license must at least give these rights to the user. 

The warranty part is perhaps not so necessary but in some countries
(like in the US), the author could face legal risks without it. In the
superstitious US, there is also tradition to write all disclaimers in
capital letters. I am not 100% sure but I very strongly suspect that
there would be any law requiring that. Outside US I think we do very
fine without those obvious notices.

Regards,
Mikko

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mahesh T Pai [mailto:paivakil at yahoo.co.in] 
> Sent: 9. helmikuuta 2002 8:29
> To: Zooko; license-discuss at opensource.org
> Subject: Re: The Simple Permissive License, v0.1
> 
> 
> > ----- begin text of The Simple Permissive License v0.1 -----
> >
> > Copyright (c) [YEAR] [AUTHOR NAME]
> >
> > Permission is hereby granted to any person to use this 
> software in any
> way, including to modify it and redistribute it, subject to 
> the following
> conditions:
> >
> > The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be 
> > included in
> all copies or substantial portions of this software.
> >
> > THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.
> >
> > ----- end text of The Simple Permissive License v0.1 -----
> >
> 
> 
> why not this way:-
> 
> Copyright (c) [YEAR] [AUTHOR NAME]
> "Everybody is permitted to use, modify and redistribute this 
> software in in any manner, subject to following
> 
> (a) This notice should be included in all such copies and 
> substantial portions of this software
> (b)  THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.
> 
> <-- nothing much, just simplified it further -->
> 
> 
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