What does "new" mean in Section 1.9 (b) of the MPL v 1.1.?

[Smith, McCoy]

Since MPL is undergoing revision right now, you might want to post your question on the revision site:  http://mpl.mozilla.org/  If that section is unclear, they'd probably want to clarify it.

From: Maria Magliano [mailto:maria at aet-law.com]
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 12:48 PM
To: license-discuss at opensource.org
Subject: What does "new" mean in Section 1.9 (b) of the MPL v 1.1.?

Hi Everyone!

I'm trying to understand what the term "new" means in the MPL definition of a "Modification" in Section 1.9. (b) (I reproduce the entire definition below for reference).  Does "new" mean a file that, apart from the MPL-covered code, did not exist previously (i.e. anywhere in the universe?) or, does it also mean a file that may already exist but was not previously combined with MPL-covered code (so that "new" refers to the novel combination of the two)?  I'm trying to make sure that pre-existing proprietary code is not considered as being "new" under that subsection by being combined with MPL-covered code for the first time.

Thoughts?


1.9. "Modifications"
means any addition to or deletion from the substance or structure of either the Original Code or any previous Modifications. When Covered Code is released as a series of files, a Modification is:
a.       Any addition to or deletion from the contents of a file containing Original Code or previous Modifications.
b.       Any new file that contains any part of the Original Code or previous Modifications.
Maria

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