Re: License advice
I am not a lawyer either, but...
Marcus Brinkmann said:
> The other comments state the difference in copyright law, if everything is
> forbidden that is not explicitely allowd or if everything that is not
> explicitely forbidden is allowed.
I don't really see how this applies here...
Yes, the standard American legal system follows the principle that if
an action is not specifically forbidden by law (either statute or
common law), it is legal. In theory, this would mean that in the
absense of a law to the contrary, I could modify and distribute any
piece of software without penalty.
But there is a law to the contrary: US Copyright Law grants several
exclusive rights to the Author of a copyrightable work. This
specifically forbids others from modifying and distributing a work
without the permission of the copyright holder. So the claim that I
can do it because what isn't forbidden is allowed fails, since it is
forbidden.
> We have the Bern convention in europe which specifies the former. I don't
> know about the letter, and would assume the worst to be on the safe side.
>
> In general, I prefer to have a license that does not leave any ambiguity or
> interpretation on my side.
>
> Marcus
>
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