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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>I'm in a mood to dig deeper into the following conversation but in a different thread. This came up in an earlier back-and-forth between me and John Cowan:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>Larry:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>> ... and that this isn't just a typical legitimate way <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>> that one copyrighted FOSS program is built <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>> on top of another.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>John:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>But Alice's program is not FOSS in my hypo here.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>Larry:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='color:black'>True. But it could have been such, under <u>any</u> FOSS license whatsoever, without an ounce of license incompatibility.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>We (including me) keep harping on the differences among FOSS licenses. And some GPL advocates exaggerate those differences for collective and derivative works by misstating the implications of 17 U.S.C. 103(b).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>The frequent result is that, even if Bob and Alice are both devotees of FOSS, some people say that they can't combine their free programs because of potential license incompatibility. What a waste! They have to spend valuable time arguing over which license is preferable.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Thus it is, for example, that we create both Apache Open Office and LibreOffice, FOSS projects that differ primarily in that they use incompatible licenses for software implementing the same functionality. But if those copyright owners could exchange independently written modules and link them together in imaginative ways, just think how much better that FOSS office suite could become?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>If we remember that <u>all</u> FOSS licenses grant <u>all</u> 17 U.S.C. §106 copyright rights <u>directly</u> to every licensee, including the right to create collective and derivative works, then all combinations of all FOSS licenses are technically possible <u>always</u>. Functional aggregations are merely a technical challenge, depending only on whether to create derivative works to implement such linkages or to stand farther apart with glue code and API interfaces. At the end, though, such functional aggregations are always free to use by downstream customers as long as the software vendors and distributors themselves honor the attribution (and other) terms and conditions of each component license. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Make sure you deal with diligent distributors and software aggregators. They will give you a list of all FOSS components in their software just in case you also want to become a distributor, although they are not required to disclose their own "material contributed by the author of such work." 17 U.S.C. 103(b). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>So much for the ongoing GPLv3 confusion about "Corresponding Source." :-) Disclosure requirements apply to GPL and other FOSS works (including in some cases also derivative works), but not to independent works no matter how linked.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Once again: Nobody is free to change my licenses on my own independent works, no matter how badly they want to control my license choices.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Since we've been talking rather grandiosely about cultural expectations in our community, I thought I'd risk laying my own personal cultural expectations on the line.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>/Larry<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Lawrence Rosen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Rosenlaw & Einschlag (<a href="http://www.rosenlaw.com/"><span style='color:#0563C1'>www.rosenlaw.com</span></a>) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#1F497D'>3001 King Ranch Rd., Ukiah, CA 95482<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Cell: 707-478-8932 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#1F497D'>LinkedIn: <a href="http://lnkd.in/D9CWhD"><span style='color:#0563C1'>http://lnkd.in/D9CWhD</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></body></html>