the provide, license verbs (was: Dual licensing)

[Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.]

I essentially agree with Rick's comment, but it may be somewhat misleading. 
I suspect a copyright holder who issues a license would argue that the 
license changes everything. As such, if you are in lawful possession of 
software that is accompanied by a license, you are restricted to accepting 
the terms of the license or rejecting them. That's it. On the other hand, 
the  default rules Rick mentions would apply to a work like a book, which 
is not customarily distributed with a license.

Rod

---------
Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.
rdixon at cyberspaces.org
www.cyberspaces.org

...... Original Message .......
On Wed, 9 Jun 2004 08:33:15 -0700 Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
>Quoting Marius Amado Alves (amado.alves at netcabo.pt):
>> Sam Barnett-Cormack wrote:
>
>> >The author gives me a copy of the software...
>> 
>> Under no license?
>
>Marius, if you receive a piece of software encumbered by copyright (as
>essentially all useful software is), you have the implied right to use
>and (if needed) compile the software -- as provided by copyright
>statute.  Other rights such as the right of redistribution, and the
>creation and distribution of derivative works, are by default reserved
>to the copyright holder.
>
>So, if you (lawfully) acquire a piece of software, you have a bundle of
>rights by statutory action, by default.  Upon acquiring it, you might
>find a licence grant from the copyright holder that is contingent on a
>stated set of obligations.  If the obligations don't appeal to you,
>nothing requires you to accept the licence, but then you possess only
>the rights conveyed by statute (e.g., no right of redistribution).
>
>Copyright owners who don't want recipients to have that option often
>resort to clipwrap agreements (an intended instrument of contract law),
>instead.  (There are other reasons some authors prefer such instruments,
>but that's a different discussion.)
>
>-- 
>Cheers,                                            Rehab is for quitters.
>Rick Moen
>rick at linuxmafia.com
>--
>license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3
>

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