Academic Free License

[Lawrence E. Rosen]

I am submitting the accompanying Academic Free License for your review
and for OSI approval.  The online copy of the license is at
http://www.rosenlaw.com/afl.html.  The text version is below.

The Academic Free License (AFL) is similar to the BSD, MIT, UoI/NCSA and
Apache licenses in many respects but it is intended to solve a few
problems with those licenses.

* The AFL is written so as to make it clear what software is being
licensed (by the inclusion of a statement following the copyright notice
in the software).  This way, the license functions better than a
template license.  The BSD, MIT and UoI/NCSA licenses apply to
unidentified software.  

* The AFL contains a complete copyright grant to the software.  The BSD
and Apache licenses are vague and incomplete in that respect.

* The AFL contains a complete patent grant to the software.  The BSD,
MIT, UoI/NCSA and Apache licenses rely on an implied patent license and
contain no explicit patent grant.

* The AFL makes it clear that no trademark rights are granted to the
licensor's trademarks.  The Apache license contains such a provision,
but the BSD, MIT and UoI/NCSA licenses do not.

* The AFL includes the warranty by the licensor that it either owns the
copyright or that it is distributing the software under a license.  None
of the other licenses contain that warranty.  All other warranties are
disclaimed, as is the case for the other licenses.  (My article for an
upcoming issue of Linux Journal, explaining why I included that
warranty, is attached in PDF format to this email.)

* The AFL is itself copyrighted (with the right granted to copy and
distribute without modification).  This ensures that the owner of the
copyright to the license will control changes.  The Apache license
contains a copyright notice, but the BSD, MIT and UoI/NCSA licenses do
not.

/Larry Rosen
lrosen at rosenlaw.com
707-485-1242
fax: 707-485-1243

The text version of the AFL appears below:

*******************************

Academic Free License
Version 1.0 dated 6/24/2002

This Academic Free License applies to any software and associated
documentation  (the "Software") whose owner (the "Licensor") has placed
the statement  "Licensed under the Academic Free License" immediately
after the copyright  notice that applies to the Software.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
copy of  the Software (1) to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, perform,
distribute,  sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom  the Software is furnished to do so, and (2)
under patent claims owned or  controlled by the Licensor that are
embodied in the Software as furnished by  the Licensor, to make, use,
sell and offer for sale the Software and derivative  works thereof,
subject to the following conditions:

.  Redistributions of the Software in source code form must retain all
copyright notices in the Software as furnished by the Licensor, this
list of  conditions, and the following disclaimers.
.  Redistributions of the Software in executable form must reproduce all
copyright notices in the Software as furnished by the Licensor, this
list of  conditions, and the following disclaimers in the documentation
and/or other  materials provided with the distribution.
.  Neither the names of Licensor, nor the names of any contributors to
the  Software, nor any of their trademarks or service marks, may be used
to endorse  or promote products derived from this Software without
express prior written  permission of the Licensor. 

DISCLAIMERS: LICENSOR WARRANTS THAT THE COPYRIGHT IN AND TO THE SOFTWARE
IS  OWNED BY THE LICENSOR OR THAT THE SOFTWARE IS DISTRIBUTED BY
LICENSOR UNDER A VALID CURRENT  LICENSE.  EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY STATED IN
THE IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING SENTENCE, THE  SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE
LICENSOR, CONTRIBUTORS AND COPYRIGHT OWNERS "AS  IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY
OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT  LIMITED TO THE
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE  AND
NON-INFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE LICENSOR, CONTRIBUTORS OR
COPYRIGHT OWNERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
WHETHER  IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT
OF OR IN  CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE.

This license is Copyright (C) 2002 Lawrence E. Rosen.  All rights
reserved.   Permission is hereby granted to copy and distribute this
license without  modification.  This license may not be modified without
the express written  permission of its copyright owner.

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