Silly question: are usage restrictions covered by the OSD?

[Arnoud Engelfriet]

Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting Arnoud Engelfriet (galactus at stack.nl):
> > Well, if the usage is normally reserved to the copyright holder, 
> > an open source license could grant that right to all users. I
> > don't think that has anything to do with "discrimination".
> 
> Isn't the right to use software implied by lawful receipt?

Listening to most software copyright holders, it seems not. You
do not receive a copy of the software to use as you see fit, but
you get a very limited license for use on one PC, for example.
I have no idea whether US caselaw has settled this question, but
in Europe you are only allowed to use the software under limited
circumstances.

> > That seems to correspond quite nicely to the FSF's freedom zero
> > ("to use the program, for any purpose").
> 
> I would have thought it understood implicitly that redistribution is not
> an instance of what is meant by _usage_, in this context.  The OSD isn't
> code for a von Neumann machine:  People are supposed to use their heads 
> about what its phrases mean.

The OSD only seems concerned with distribution and leaves it
implicit that all usage should be unrestricted; only some
special cases of usage restrictions are explicitly forbidden
(like use in business or use by the South Africa police). Perhaps
it would be stating the obvious, but would it hurt to say "Users
must be allowed to use the program for any purpose"?

> > It has the side-effect that the ASP loophole is then officially
> > approved and cannot be closed.
> 
> Hmm.  It's not clear to me that the OSI Board desires to exclude
> licences extending copyleft provisions to situations that lack code
> distribution -- but they might.  Such a licence is certainly on the
> militant end of the spectrum, but clearly conveys the rights to use and
> to fork the codebase.

The Open Software License version 2.0, an OSI approved license,
defines usage on a webserver to be "distribution" (section 5).
The implication seems to be that in such a case I have to offer
the source for my web application for download under the OSI,
although nowhere do I see a requirement to make source available
for my Derivative Work.

Arnoud

-- 
Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch patent attorney - Speaking only for myself
Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/
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