Re: RFC about copyrights and right package section for W3C docs.
David Starner <dstarner98@aasaa.ofe.org>:
> > The notion that
> > standards do not get out of date can't be meant seriously in a world of
> > SQL92, IPv6, C89, etc. etc.
>
> IPv6 and C99 didn't change IPv4 or C89, did they?
When writing a new version of a standard it is often convenient to
borrow text from the previous version, as the alternative is either to
just list the differences, thereby forcing the reader to constantly
refer to the old standard and risk getting confused, or to rewrite
everything from scratch, thereby risking accidental differences
between the two versions. So the standard should have a licence that
allows a new standard to reuse text from it, even if the new standard
is produced by a different organisation (the old organisation might
have disappeared). But of course it is quite reasonable for the
licence to demand that the name be changed when a derivative work is
made in this fashion.
Edmund
Reply to: