MS-PL/GPL compatibility, was Re: For Approval: Microsoft Permissive License

[Alexander Terekhov]

On 8/24/07, Tobia Conforto <tobia.conforto at linux.it> wrote:
> Alexander Terekhov wrote:
> > Wilson, Andrew wrote:
> > > Let's try cut-and-paste to keep it simple.  Can I cut and paste
> > > a non-trivial amount of EPL code (let's say 10 lines or more)
> >
> > Would you real want to steal only 10 lines of BSD code? :-)
>
> "Steal?"  I could hardly find a less appropriate term for talking about
> collaboration, reuse, and collective development of open source software.
> But I see a smiley there, so I'll suppose it was a jest I didn't get :-)
>
>
> > Mere cut-and-paste without modification of code would constitute
> > either compilation, collective work, or noncopyrightable aggregation,
> > and neither affect copyright owners' adaptation rights (vs
> > reproduction rights if copied portion deemed protected) under Section
> > 106 of the U.S. Copyright Act.
>
> No practical cut-and-paste is without modification.  I am not familiar
> with most of those terms, but I'll pose you a practical example.

Okay.

>
> Suppose I mean to cut-and-paste a piece of code I find useful, let's say
> a particular algorithm implementation, from a EPL-licensed work into a
> BSD work.

Algorithm? Patents and AFC filtering aside for a moment, keep its implementation
as separate work akin to standard C++ stuff from <algorithm>
(http://www.cppreference.com/cppalgorithm/index.html) and retain the
EPL license for its implementation. Incorporation of so to speak
"extended" <algorithm> into a BSD work won't turn it into an EPL work,
believe me.

regards,
alexander.