Re: Debian Legal summary of the X-Oz License
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ben Reser" <ben@reser.org>
To: <mgr@x-oz.com>; <debian-legal@lists.debian.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 10:41 PM
Subject: Re: Debian Legal summary of the X-Oz License
> On Tue, Mar 02, 2004 at 04:37:32PM -0500, Branden Robinson wrote:
> > > 3. The end-user documentation included with the redistribution, if
> > > any, must include the following acknowledgment:
> > >
> > > "This product includes software developed by X-Oz Technologies
> > > (http://www.x-oz.com/)."
> > >
> > > Alternately, this acknowledgment may appear in the software itself,
> > > if and wherever such third-party acknowledgments normally appear.
> >
> > We find this statement to be a bit confusing. Here are some questions
> > that may make it less so for us.
> >
> > 1) Can this clause be satisfied simply by including the license text in
> > end-user documentation, since the license text includes verbatim the
> > required acknowledgement?
> >
> > 2) Is there an objective set of characteristics that distinguish
> > "end-user" documentation from any other kind of documentation?
> >
> > 3) If the answer to 2) is "no", or you if you are unable to think of
> > any, would you strike the term "end-user" from the license text, and
> > apply the amended license to all of the code copyrighted by X-Oz
> > Technologies, Inc. that is currently in public circulation?
> >
> > 4) Is it the position of X-Oz Technologies, Inc., that this clause is
> > binding upon the licensee even if end-user documentation included with
> > the redistribution neither contains, nor is derived from, work
> > copyrighted by X-Oz Technologies, Inc., and licensed under these terms?
> >
> > [ For example, if I am distributing Vim, the text editor, as well as its
> > user manual, on a CD-ROM to someone, and include the source code to the
> > XFree86 X server from the XFree86 CVS trunk as of November 2003 on that
> > same CD-ROM as a convenience, am I required to modify the Vim
> > documentation to include the statement "This product includes software
> > developed by X-Oz Technologies (http://www.x-oz.com/)."? ]
> >
> > 5) If the answer to 4) is "yes", am I relieved of the obligation of this
> > clause of the license if the only end-user documentation I am
> > distributing is not copyrighted by me, and I have no license from the
> > copyright holder to modify that documentation?
>
> Susan,
>
> The above questions that Branden asks if answered would probably relieve
> the concern with this clause. Can you please reply specifically to
> them?
>
> > > 4. Except as contained in this notice, the name of X-Oz Technologies
> > > shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale,
> > > use or other dealings in this Software without prior written
> > > authorization from X-Oz Technologies.
> >
> > We have some concerns about this clause as well.
> >
All of you have stated, endlessly, that you are not lawyers, and that is
obviously the case since many of your questions deal with 'fair use'
under the U.S. Copyright law. I would ask that you familiarize with that
definition and you will find that answers most, if not all, of your
questions.
Best Regards,
Sue
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