[License-review] For Legacy Approval: TOPPERS License

Yutaka MATSUBARA yutaka at ertl.jp
Tue Jul 7 19:37:41 UTC 2015


Hello Carlo,

>>     (a) The above copyright notice, this use conditions, and the
>>         disclaimer shown below must be shown without modification in
>>         the document provided with the redistributed software, such as
>>         the user manual.
>
> The example is clear, but why is it not sufficient to accompany any
> distribution in such a form with a copy of the license itself?

The form with a copy of the license itself meets (a) clearly.
Do you have a concern?
	
>>     (b) How the software is to be redistributed must be reported to the
>>         TOPPERS Project according to the procedure described
>>         separately.
>
> If this was the only option available, this would make the entire
> license strikingly non-compliant, IMHO. In addition, reference to a
> specific project ought to be omitted, otherwise the license would
> practically be limited to a single use -- a one-way free ticket to
> proliferation.
 > I would advocate that, because the condition under b) is non-compliant,
 > it should be removed for the license to be approved.

I think that if a user can do (b), then the user can do (a) as well.
What kinds of situations do you imagine?

Several licences including names of specific projects/companies have 
been already approved. I think that these licences seem to be limited 
to use cases. What differences between these licenses and TOPPERS 
license do you see?

Thanks,
Yutaka

> All the best
>
> Carlo
>
>
> On 02/07/2015 06:22, Yutaka MATSUBARA wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> We, committee members of TOPPERS Project, decided to replace the
>> phrase "either of ..." with "at least one of ..." to avoid confusions.
>> The revised license text is as follows. We believe that TOPPERS
>> License becomes more clear and will be approved soon.
>>
>> License text:
>> ----- start of license text -----
>> <Name of Software>
>>
>> Copyright (C) <Year> by <Copyright Holder 1>
>> Copyright (C) <Year> by <Copyright Holder 2>
>> ...
>>
>>   The above copyright holders grant permission gratis to use,
>>   duplicate, modify, or redistribute (hereafter called use) this
>>   software (including the one made by modifying this software),
>>   provided that the following four conditions (1) through (4) are
>>   satisfied.
>>
>>   (1) When this software is used in the form of source code, the above
>>       copyright notice, this use conditions, and the disclaimer shown
>>       below must be retained in the source code without modification.
>>
>>   (2) When this software is redistributed in the forms usable for the
>>       development of other software, such as in library form, the above
>>       copyright notice, this use conditions, and the disclaimer shown
>>       below must be shown without modification in the document provided
>>       with the redistributed software, such as the user manual.
>>
>>   (3) When this software is redistributed in the forms unusable
>>       for the development of other software, such as the case when
>>       the software is embedded in a piece of equipment, at least
>>       one of the following two conditions must be satisfied:
>>
>>     (a) The above copyright notice, this use conditions, and the
>>         disclaimer shown below must be shown without modification in
>>         the document provided with the redistributed software, such as
>>         the user manual.
>>
>>     (b) How the software is to be redistributed must be reported to the
>>         TOPPERS Project according to the procedure described
>>         separately.
>>
>>   (4) The above copyright holders and the TOPPERS Project are exempt
>>       from responsibility for any type of damage directly or indirectly
>>       caused from the use of this software and are indemnified by any
>>       users or end users of this software from any and all causes of
>>       action whatsoever.
>>
>>   THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS." THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND
>>   THE TOPPERS PROJECT DISCLAIM ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
>>   INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ITS APPLICABILITY TO A PARTICULAR
>>   PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND THE
>>   TOPPERS PROJECT BE LIABLE FOR ANY TYPE OF DAMAGE DIRECTLY OR
>>   INDIRECTLY CAUSED FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
>> ----- end of license text -----
>>
>> If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Yutaka
>>
>> On 6/13/15 09:54, Yutaka MATSUBARA wrote:
>>> Hello Richard, Josh and John,
>>>
>>>>> I can't quite put my finger on why but the way 'either' is used there
>>>>> makes me wonder whether the license author meant to unidiomatically
>>>>> indicate "both". Can the license submitter comment on this?
>>>>
>>>> Yes, this confused me too (hence my earlier posting).  "Either" in
>>>> English
>>>> can mean "both", as in "There are trees on either side of the street",
>>>> meaning on both sides of it.  This is not a situation where people are
>>>> well served by the use of "either", but since it's legacy, I withdraw
>>>> my objection.
>>>
>>> Thanks for your suggestions!
>>>
>>> TOPPERS license is described in Japanese (original version) and
>>> English respectively. I think that is basically a problem in
>>> translation from Japanese to English. In the Japanese version of
>>> TOPPERS License, that is completely clear.
>>>
>>> If possible, I would like to replace that with the phrase "one of the
>>> following two conditions".
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Yutaka
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