the provide, license verbs

[Chris F Clark]

Sorry to follow-up to myself, but
> As a result, I think at some point someone will sue someone over the
> fact that the party being sued "internally" distributed software
> violating the suing party's license which had requirements on
> distribution that the party being sued did not meet.

I think that someone will also sue over making a private derivative
version too.  However, I don't know if such a suit is possible under
an open source license as I believe all current open source licenses
reserve the right to make derivatives to the recipient, and I believe
further that to be OSI-compatible they must do so.

I have often contemplated writing an open source license that requires
derivatives to be made "publicly" available (either by publishing or
by sending back to the author who can then publish).  However, working
with a lawyer to get such a license drafted is an expensive
proposition and would only result in yet-one-more-incompatible open
source license, which is not a good thing in my eyes.

-Chris

*****************************************************************************
Chris Clark                    Internet   :  compres at world.std.com
Compiler Resources, Inc.       Web Site   :  http://world.std.com/~compres  
23 Bailey Rd                   voice      :  (508) 435-5016
Berlin, MA  01503  USA         fax        :  (978) 838-0263  (24 hours)
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