[License-review] Request for Approval : Modular Open Software License (MOSL)

[Hadrien G.]

Hi Love,

My problem with this reasoning is that I don't think software licensing 
terms can do such a thing as restrict the operation of a law. As far as 
I know, if I distribute the software to Mr X from country Y, and the law 
of country Y states that all software authors are held responsible for 
some specific events (such as casualities) occuring due to the use of 
their software, then in such an event, Mr X is free to sue me without my 
written consent, whether the license says otherwise or not. As soon as I 
have distributed the software to him, I am held responsible for whatever 
happens.

Perhaps it would be possible to write a clause specifying that if 
applicable law makes a provision for extra warranties, then the software 
user must inform the software authors of the existence of such legal 
provision before the license is declared valid, and the software author 
is free to void that user's license if he can't comply with the law. 
Sounds like a convoluted way to go about it, though, and the people who 
wrote the GPL's disclaimer, which I took inspiration from, did not 
bother to go down this route.

Regards,
Hadrien

Le 31/01/2013 11:12, Love Nystrom a écrit :
> Hi Hadrien,
>
> Why ?  For your own good.
> With your phrasing, you can be held accountable for flaws by Mr X from 
> country Y
> without having any previous knowledge of your accountability.
> That's why the AND. Then Mr X will have to contact you in advance and 
> notify you that country Y
> has a law BLAH BLAH that can hold you accountable, and you have the 
> option to decline.
>
> I understand your want to be able to accept further accountability by 
> explicit agreement,
> so for both sets of conditions to be valid you'll need some further 
> rephrasing.
>
> Just my penny to the pot.
> WBR // Love
>
> (PS. I'm not speaking for OSI, I'm not with that organisation, just 
> expressing a point of view.)
>
>
> On 2013-01-31 03.07, Hadrien G. wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> If I get it right, that would change the meaning quite significantly, 
>> going from "country-specific laws or mutually agreed warranty 
>> contracts can bypass this disclaimer" to "only a combination of 
>> country law and warranty contracts can make the author liable for 
>> software flaws". Which effectively translates to "only country law 
>> can make the author liable for software flaws", since software 
>> licenses do not override the software author's legal responsibilities 
>> anyway.
>>
>> Why would you prefer it the latter way ?
>>
>> Hadrien
>>
>> Le 30/01/2013 14:40, Love Nystrom a écrit :
>>> Hello Hadrien,
>>>
>>> I would suggest you rephrase the disclaimer slightly, and and change 
>>> some ORs to ANDs:
>>> UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW _AND_ AGREED TO IN WRITING...
>>>
>>> Just my penny to the pot.
>>>
>>> WBR // Love
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2013-01-30 15.12, Hadrien G. wrote:
>>> ..abbreviated..
>>>> **************************************************
>>>> ***    Modular Open Software License (MOSL)    ***
>>>> ***      Working Draft 3, 30 January 2013      ***
>>>> ***  Copyright (c) 2012-2013 Hadrien Grasland  ***
>>>> **************************************************
>>>>
>>>> Redistribution and use of this software, or modified forms of it, 
>>>> are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
>>>>
>>>> * Redistributions of source code must retain this list of 
>>>> conditions, the above copyright notice, and the following disclaimer.
>>>> * Redistributions in binary form must include a copy of this list 
>>>> of conditions, the above copyright notice, and the following 
>>>> disclaimer, whether in documentation or in other provided materials.
>>>> * Redistributions in any form must be accompanied by information on 
>>>> how to obtain complete source code for this software, and any 
>>>> accompanying software that makes use of it. Source code must either 
>>>> be included in the distribution, or be available for no more than 
>>>> the cost of its distribution. For an executable file, complete 
>>>> source code means the source code for all modules it contains, save 
>>>> for modules or files that are typically provided with the operating 
>>>> system on which the executable file runs.
>>>>
>>>> UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING, THIS 
>>>> SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED 
>>>> WARRANTIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF 
>>>> NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR 
>>>> PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OF THE SOFTWARE BE LIABLE, 
>>>> AGAIN UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING, 
>>>> FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR 
>>>> CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF 
>>>> LIABILITY, ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN 
>>>> IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
>>>>
>>>> ===
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> Neolander
>>>
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