Re: academic software without licence

[Sean 'Shaleh' Perry <shalehperry@attbi.com>]

On Monday 03 February 2003 11:35, Antoine Mathys wrote:
> Hello,
>
> What exactly must be done when trying to package an academic piece of
> software, which typically has no copyright but mentions such as :
>
>     - The program is provided "as is." There is no warranty.
>     - may be used without restriction
>     - available to everyone, with no restrictions (and of course no
> warranty)
>
> etc... ?
>

Each piece of software must be examined on its own.

In general, software without a copyright giving you permission gives you *NO* 
permission.

"may be used without restriction" does not give you the right to distribute or 
modify.  Use clauses only govern actual use.

I guess the bottom line is this software is probably not to be treated as free 
software unless/until the author says it is.  Rather annoying I know.