Revised License Committee Report for March 2009
Dag-Erling Smørgrav
des at des.no
Thu Mar 19 15:19:40 UTC 2009
Russ Nelson <nelson at crynwr.com> writes:
> Moreover, the license itself is unacceptably obnoxious. Its very name
> cannot be mentioned in polite company. There *is* still such a thing
> as polite company, y'know.
Perhaps it was not intended that way. I think there is a perception
among younger Europeans (no doubt caused by overconsumption of Hollywood
movies and TV series) that liberal use of the f-word is appropriate and
accepted (and perhaps even expected) in everyday conversation.
> This license does nothing to protect the licensor, and gives the
> licensees all permissions. It *is* the public domain [...]
Sam does have a point, though: "public domain" does not mean the same
thing in Europe as in the US. There is no provision in Norwegian law,
for instance, for placing a work in the public domain before the
expiration of the copyright term.
However, there is a far simpler and less offensive way of achieving what
Sam wants to achieve:
/*
* Copyright (c) <YEAR> <AUTHOR'S NAME>
*
* This work is distributed without any warranty of any kind. It may be
* used, modified and / or distributed by any party for any purpose.
*/
IANAL, but I believe this is the absolute minimum required to grant the
user complete freedom while protecting the author - although a lawyer
may insist that the bit about the warranty should be in all caps (google
"warranty disclaimer conspicuous reasonable person" for an explanation).
I don't buy the argument that a warranty disclaimer is not required for
content, BTW. Think of a CAD drawing, for instance, or a step-by-step
guide to refurbishing a brake caliper.
NOTE: the above is not in any way intended as a request for approval of
a new open source license.
> This license has gone before the board and has been rejected. Further
> discussion here is off-topic. I expect self-discipline, but it it's
> lacking, I will take steps.
Let's move it to where it belongs...
DES
--
Dag-Erling Smørgrav - des at des.no
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