What does "new" mean in Section 1.9 (b) of the MPL v 1.1.?

[Maria Magliano]

Hi!  

The use case described to me is that the MPL-covered code (a JAR file) will
be embedded (unmodified) into pre-existing proprietary web application files
that are then assembled and run.  Doesn't this mean that both of the
scenarios you describe apply?  I'd be interested in your take under either
scenario if you think it makes a difference in terms of how the license
applies to the resulting combination.

Best,

Maria

-----Original Message-----
From: Luis Villa [mailto:lvilla at mozilla.com] 
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 1:08 PM
To: Smith, McCoy
Cc: maria at aet-law.com; license-discuss at opensource.org
Subject: Re: What does "new" mean in Section 1.9 (b) of the MPL v 1.1.?

On 4/2/10 12:50 PM, Smith, McCoy wrote:
> Since MPL is undergoing revision right now, you might want to post your
> question on the revision site: http://mpl.mozilla.org/ If that section
> is unclear, they'd probably want to clarify it.

We're also lurking here in case of questions like this, for what it is 
worth.

> *From:* Maria Magliano [mailto:maria at aet-law.com]
> *Sent:* Friday, April 02, 2010 12:48 PM
> *To:* license-discuss at opensource.org
> *Subject:* What does "new" mean in Section 1.9 (b) of the MPL v 1.1.?
>
> Hi Everyone!
>
> I'm trying to understand what the term "new" means in the MPL definition
> of a "Modification" in Section 1.9. (b) (I reproduce the entire
> definition below for reference). Does "new" mean a file that, apart from
> the MPL-covered code, did not exist previously (i.e. anywhere in the
> universe?) or, does it also mean a file that may already exist but was
> not previously combined with MPL-covered code (so that "new" refers to
> the novel combination of the two)? I'm trying to make sure that
> pre-existing proprietary code is not considered as being "new" under
> that subsection by being combined with MPL-covered code for the first
time.

I have added a comment to our commenting tool to reflect the ambiguity 
in the use of 'new' here:
https://mpl.co-ment.com/text/NMccndsidpP/view/?comment_id_key=kZDPJ6wstkI

It might help the discussion if you elaborated a bit on what you say 
when you meant 'combined... for the first time'- do you mean that the 
pre-existing proprietary code will be compiled together with the 
MPL-covered code? Or do you mean that copyrightable material from the 
MPL-covered code will be copied and pasted into the pre-existing 
proprietary code?

Luis

-- 
Luis Villa, Mozilla Legal
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work phone: 650-903-0800 x327
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