Re: IBM PUBLIC LICENSE - OpenSource?

[Ben Pfaff <pfaffben@msu.edu>]

"Marcelo E. Magallon" <mmagallo@efis.ucr.ac.cr> writes:

	   attached is a copy of "IBM PUBLIC LICENSE", extracted from the just
   released Data Explorer 4.0 source.  I don't know if this is the same as
   Jike's license, but I catched my eye that Freshmeat lists this thing as
   "OpenSource".  I have read this, and all I can say right now is "this is
   confusing!!!".  I browsed IBM's site, but I couldn't find any reference that
   claims this license is OpenSource...

Amazingly enough, it looks like this is Open Source compliant and
actually a pretty reasonable license.  I only browsed it, however, and
didn't analyze it in detail or even read it word-for-word.  

This clause in particular I find confusing.  I'm not at all sure what
it means:

   4. COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION

   This Agreement does not prohibit any Contributor from including the
   Program in a commercial product offering (including distribution in
   object code form under a license agreement other than this Agreement),
   provided that such Contributor ("Commercial Contributor") hereby
   agrees to indemnify, defend and hold every other Contributor
   ("Indemnified Contributor") harmless from and against any losses,
   damages, expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) and costs
   (collectively "Losses") arising from claims, lawsuits and other legal
   actions brought against the Indemnified Contributor to the extent
   caused by the terms, conditions, acts or omissions of such Commercial
   Contributor in connection with its distribution of the Program in a
   commercial product offering, excluding any Losses arising from
   intellectual property claims relating to the Program, provided that
   any Indemnified Contributor: a) promptly notifies the Commercial
   Contributor in writing of such claim, and b) allows the Commercial
   Contributor to control, and cooperates with the Commercial Contributor
   in, the defense and any related settlement negotiations.  The
   Indemnified Contributor shall have the right to participate at its own
   expense.

And I find it interesting that IBM's lawyers don't know the difference
between `affect' and `effect' :-)

   If any provision of this Agreement is invalid or unenforceable under
   applicable law, it shall not effect the validity or enforceability of
                                ^^^^^^
   the remainder of the terms of this Agreement, and without further
   action by the parties hereto such provision shall be reformed to the
   minimum extent necessary to make such provision valid and enforceable.

-- 
"Debian for hackers, Red Hat for suits, Slackware for loons."
--CmdrTaco <URL:http://slashdot.org/articles/99/03/22/0928207.shtml>