For Approval: The Simplified BSD License
Rick Moen
rick at linuxmafia.com
Sun Sep 9 19:54:24 UTC 2007
Quoting David Woolley (forums at david-woolley.me.uk):
> For open source licences, it very much matters what the computerist
> thinks, because it is normally they that have to choose and interpret
> and obey the licence.
Yes, it is thus important that, e.g., open source / free-software
licences be comprehensible by mere mortals. However, c'mon. It really
doesn't require a lot of intelligence to understand that the traditional
term of art 'All Rights Reserved' does not nullify software licences.
>> What matters is that judges (and people with at least a passing
>> acquaintance with the traditions of copyright law will read the
>> situation as intended.
>
> I agree that they will realise that the phrase is being used without
> meaning....
Mr Woolley, the phrase 'All Rights Reserved' does not lack _meaning_.
It means 'all rights not explicitly conveyed are reserved to the
copyright owner'. Arguably, that was always true by default operation
of statute even pre-Berne, but this is the belt-and-suspenders approach
common in the language of business law. What it lacks, under the
current Berne copyright regime, is _legal force_ -- except, per my
understanding, if your work is first published in Honduras.
> ...but I think they will then read the rest of the licence in the
> context of having been written by someone that cut and paste codes their
> legal documents, and therefore be more likely to give the benefit of
> doubt against the author for other parts of the licence.
No. The judge is going to read 'All Rights Reserved' as meaning what it
has always meant.
--
Cheers, To you, this thought Alot
Rick Moen I gently allot: Isnot
rick at linuxmafia.com Aword.
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