For approval: ENCUL

Mark Rafn dagon at dagon.net
Fri May 23 02:07:43 UTC 2003


On Thu, 22 May 2003, Charles W. Swiger wrote:

> * 3. Users of this Software agree that any legal matters pertaining to the
> *    Software or this License acknowledge the right of the author(s) to select
> *    a local "court of appropriate jurisdiction" and have any such matters
> *    adjudicated under the laws of the author's country, state, or province.

IANAL, so I'll let others comment on this.  I believe it's too vague to be 
enforceable.

>  * 4. You may use this Software for non-commerical reasons (including research,
>  *    education, and entertainment), but you may not repackage this Software
>  *    with other software and charge a license or rental fee for this Software
>  *    alone, or for this Software in conjunction with the other software.

Depending on how you read the "for this Software in conjunction with the 
other software", this may fail OSD#1.  It must be permitted to sell the 
software as a component of an aggregate software distribution.

>  *    Commercial use is not allowed without specific prior written permission.

This is a non-starter for Open Source software.  First, it restricts use 
(as opposed to distribution or modification).  Second, it fails OSD#6, as 
it discriminates against commercial users.  This cannot be finessed.

>  * 5. "Commercial use" is defined as the inclusion or packaging of this
>  *    Software with software for which a license or rental fee is applied.

This is a funny definition - it says "use", but then defines it in terms 
of packaging and distribution.  You might prefer "commercial distribution" 
or "sale".

Note that this license grants no permission to create or distribute
derived works.  OSD#3 requires this.

>  * 6. In the event that (a) the original author(s) cannot be contacted for
>  *    permission per term #4, OR, (b) after FIVE years have passed from the
>  *    copyright date of the Software, the restriction against commercial usage
>  *    is waived.

This is not enough to make it open source.  After 5 years, software
released under this license may become open source if all the other
problems are resolved and it is a source distribution.

My recommendation would be to just release the software using a 
proprietary license if that's your intent, and then in 5 years (or 
whenever you like), release it under a normal open-source license.

See http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php for how OSI defines Open
Source Software.
--
Mark Rafn    dagon at dagon.net    <http://www.dagon.net/>  
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