Change ot topic, back to OVPL

Alex Bligh alex at alex.org.uk
Wed Aug 24 23:25:37 UTC 2005



--On 24 August 2005 13:45 -0700 David Barrett <dbarrett at quinthar.com> wrote:

>> Brian, the mandatory license back in OVPL ("all your base are belong
>> to us") is section 3.3.  Under 3.3,
>> the ID can actually write a letter demanding that you cough up all
>> Modifications you've made to the base code.
>> You might want to take a look:
>> http://openvendor.org/Licenses/Open_Vendor_Public_License
>
> Alex, is this true?

The ID gets a license-back on whatever mods contributors distribute. Note
the word distribute. It's possible they may distribute them otherwise
than to the public at large. If they distribute them to the public at large,
then whilst the ID is free to write all the letters he likes, the 
contributor has no obligation to respond. Only if the contributor does not
do this, does the ID have a right to ask for the modifications, and the
date he distributed them. The relevant sentence is included below:

> If You do not make all of your Licensed Modifications irrevocably
> generally available to the public at large, then, upon written request of
> the Initial Developer, You must promptly provide, at the Initial
> Developer's cost, a copy of all Licensed Modifications together with
> the date at which each grant thereto became effective

This was discussed on this list, and various people (including a couple
of well known names) thought this was a reasonable compromise.

For the avoidance of doubt, if you contribute a mod to a public product
on (say) sourceforge, whilst the ID can write to you all they like, you
don't have to respond.

Alex



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