Question re attribution for derived works...

Claire Giordano claire.giordano at sun.com
Wed May 19 07:39:00 UTC 2004


I am wondering what you all think about the following open source 
license possibilities.  Input much appreciated.  Thanks.

1. I'd like to know what you would think about an open source license
    that required derived works to provide attribution to the open source
    community from which the works are derived.

    Contributor source file attribution appears to be common in the open
    source world, and I've also seen requirements for attribution in the
    written documentation.

    I'm wondering how feasible it would be to require people creating and
    distributing derived works to advertise (if they advertise)
    that their derived work was "based on the open source technology" in
    question.

2. I've heard that some community members might find an advertising
    attribution requirement unpalatable.  So I'm considering whether
    the license should also contain a non-discriminatory buy-out clause
    for anyone who found the advertising attribution unpalatable (for
    a fee.)

    It's important to me to be fair and to give credit (in a visible,
    memorable way, which documentation and fine-print attribution
    sometimes are not) to the open source origin of derived works.  I'm
    trying to find a way to do so fairly, within the context of an OSI
    approved license.

Thoughts?
Thx,
Claire Giordano




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