Licensing question

[John Cowan]

Mark James scripsit:

> Clayton, that's similar to the licence I use at Rails Wheels:

Your licenses don't seem to be readily available from your site,
but the prima facie objections that occur to me are:

> - Like OSS, source is available, and can be freely redistributed and
> modified, as long as recipients are informed that they have to purchase
> a licence from the original author if and when they make production
> use of either the software or a derived version.

1) Suppose Alice obtains the code from you, and Bob obtains it from Alice.
It's not clear on what legal theory you purport to restrict Bob, who is
not in privity of contract with you, from doing whatever copyright law
allows with the code.  Even if you require Alice to contract that she
will contract with Bob to limit his uses, I gravely doubt whether such
a restriction can be imposed *in infinitum*.

This may sound the same as one of the common objections to the GPL.
But note that the GPL only limits copying and distribution, rights
reserved to the copyright owner.  It does not apply to use, much less
apply selectively to some uses and not others.

2) If the licensor becomes inaccessible or ceases to exist, the code
becomes useless.

> - The original author can grant contributors and forkers free licences or 
> revenue shares.

3) The right to fork *against* the will of the copyright owner is highly valued.
Without it, there probably would be no X Windows on free Unix-like systems today.

> There needs to be a way to fund open software so that it can be
> more than just a side-line or a path to a proprietary software job,
> and doesn't rely on pan-handling, advertising, or the freemium model
> (charging for closed documentation, support, or components).

What for?  People who buy soap generally pay only the cost of manufacture,
the cost of advertising it, and a hair more.  Yet Procter & Gamble is
not a failing company, and it does not find it necessary to apply use
restrictions on what you can do with your soap.

The usual disclaimers: I am not a lawyer; this is not legal advice.  On
the other hand, it's not the unauthorized practice of law, either.

-- 
John Cowan   cowan at ccil.org    http://ccil.org/~cowan
You cannot enter here.  Go back to the abyss prepared for you!  Go back!
Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master.  Go! --Gandalf