Unilateral permissions in license law.

[daniel wallace]

Here are some thoughts on the meaning of "unilateral permissions"
as used in present copyright license formulation.
 
Some definitions so that things are consistent:

--- Unilateral --- One-sided, ex parte: having relation of only
one of two or more persons or things.
***Black's Law Dictionary (5th Ed.)

--- Permissions --- Negations of law, arising either from the
law's silence or it's express declaration.
***Black's Law Dictionary (5th Ed.)

--- negate --- 1: to deny the existence or truth of
2: to cause to be ineffective or invalid.
***Webster's New Ninth Collegiate Dictionary

--- Waive --- To abandon, throw away, renounce, to repudiate, or
surrender a claim, a privilege, a right, or the opportunity
to take advantage of some defect, irregularity or wrong.  
***Black's Law Dictionary (5th Ed.)

--- Waiver --- The intentional or voluntary relinquishment of
a known right, ...
***Black's Law Dictionary (5th Ed.)

--- Vest --- To give an immediate, fixed right of present
or future enjoyment...
***Black's Law Dictionary (5th Ed.)

--- Exclusive --- ...; vested in one person alone.
***Black's Law Dictionary (5th Ed.)

It seems that a reasonable legal definition of "unilateral
permission(s)" is "one-sided waiver(s) of a vested legal right(s)".

An "exclusive right" by definition is a right of one person alone
and all other parties are excluded from that right.

If party "A" owns an exclusive legal right "Legal Right A" and
party "B" owns an exclusive legal right "Legal Right B", then is
it possible by operation of law for party "A" to grant a "unilateral
permission" for "Legal Right B"? By the very definitions of
"unilateral" and "exclusive" it would appear the answer must always
be "no".

To summarize:

A unilateral permission can be granted only for something in which the
grantor has some legal right. A grantor's unilateral permission by it's
very definition can have no effect on the exclusive rights of another
person distinct from the grantor.

This then would be a principle to remember in drafting an OSI license:

When dealing with derivative works, a unilateral permission from an
authorizing author can have no effect on the newly vested copyright
for the new material added by the modifying author. Some other legal
mechanism must be utilized to secure the waiver of any exclusive rights
in the new material of the modifying author.  




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