On Thu, Jul 06, 2000 at 04:26:38PM +0200, Henning Makholm wrote:
> > Henning> That is a very broad clause: "Recipient will .. indemnify
> > Henning> .. SGI from, .. any loss ... arising out of Recipient's use
> > Henning> .. of the Covered Code". That seems to mean that if I use
> > Henning> the software in a business that competes successfully with
> > Henning> SGI, they could sue me and demand that I pay up for their
> > Henning> lost profits.
[...]
> Which of the words I quoted do not come from the original clause?
> Which of my "..."s do you think cover somthing that makes my reading
> false?
Unfortunately, the term "indemnify" has (at least) two distinct meanings:
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Indemnify \In*dem"ni*fy\ (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Indemnified
(?); p. pr. & vb. n. Indemnifying (?).] [L. indemnis unhurt
(in- not + damnum hurt, damage) + -fy. Cf. Damn, Damnify.]
1. To save harmless; to secure against loss or damage; to
insure. The states must at last engage to the merchants
here that they will indemnify them from all that shall
fall out. --Sir W.
Temple.
2. To make restitution or compensation for, as for that which
is lost; to make whole; to reimburse; to compensate.
--Beattie.
Generally, in my limited and armchair experience, licenses and warranty
statements mean "indemnify" in sense 1). However I would very much hate to
be on the losing site of a court case and hear a judge tell me it means
2)...
Perhaps one of the resident amateur legal eagles can clarify this in the
contexts of contract law or tort theory.
--
G. Branden Robinson |
Debian GNU/Linux | Exercise your freedom of religion. Set
branden@debian.org | fire to a church of your choice.
http://www.debian.org/~branden/ |
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