For Approval: mindmason license (MML)

[Stephan Meyer]

First, thanks for your comments.

Am 02.09.2004 um 17:06 schrieb Forrest J. Cavalier III:
> I like some of your phrasing. But I do not think this license follows
> the OSD.
>
> I see your 2 III as being in conflict with the OSD on its face.
>   "Licensee is not entitled to grant rights pertaining to the Program 
> to third persons. "

I don't see why. I'm handling the sublicense-issue GPL-style.

The GPL states in section 6:
"Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
these terms and conditions.

So the Licensee has no use for the right to sublicense, since the 
license always originates from the author(s) of the work.

My license achieves this so-called "direct license" via the definition 
of "Licensor" in section 1.

The OSD does not prohibit this style of licensing (also evidenced by 
the conformity of the GPL):
"1. Free Redistribution
The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away 
the software [...]."

My license does not prohibit the Licensee from giving away the software.

> A requirement to notify any specific party of modifications has been 
> discussed for
> other licenses to be in conflict with the OSD.  One reason is that if 
> the specific
> party no longer exists, the rights to the license must survive.

I see your point.
According to German law, the duty then becomes "impossible" to fulfill 
and thus just vanishes.
But I think I will clarify this.

> Contract-based "licenses" can be problem with open-source.  For 
> example,
> who has the authority to enforce a license violation three layers of 
> distribution
> away from the author?

In German copyright law, there is but the contract-based license. So 
there is no choice.

The authors as licensors always have the right to enforce the license 
through contract law.
The authors as copyright holders may also enforce their rights to the 
work through copyright law.

Actually, since the license is granted directly by the author, there 
are "layers of distribution" only in the factual, but not in the legal 
sense.

> Contracts formed on "use" of the software are dubious.  U.S. copyright
> law expressly permits using a legally obtained copy of computer program
> (and even certain modifications to it) without a license.

Please elaborate on how one can "legally obtain" a copy of a computer 
program while rejecting the license terms that come with it.


Kind regards,
	Stephan Meyer