Licensing problems with xscrabble

[Colin Watson <cjwatson@flatline.org.uk>]

Hi,

I'd like to package xscrabble, which is licensed under the GPL. It
contains the Xc widgets in its source code, which display the following
copyright notice:

/*************************************************************************
                                COPYRIGHT NOTICE:

                        Control Panel Widget Set (Xc), v. 1.3

                        copyright (c) 1992 by Paul D. Johnston

   All rights reserved.  You may freely use and distribute the Control
Panel Widget Set (Xc), but you may not use it, or any widget in the set,
in your commercial or freely distributable applications without giving the
author due recognition.
Example:

  "This software product makes use of the Control Panel Widget Set (Xc),
v. 1.3, copyright 1992 by Paul D. Johnston."

**************************************************************************/

I'm inclined to say that we need explicit permission to modify and to
distribute modified versions. Apart from that, though, what do you think
about the last clause? Is it equivalent to "... must reproduce the above
copyright notice ... in the documentation and/or other materials
provided with the distribution" clause in the modern BSD licence, or is
it equivalent to the old BSD advertising clause?

Since the licence seems to be non-free and hence the whole package is
non-redistributable, more by accidental omission than anything else, my
question is largely academic, but I'm still curious whether I should
mention it when I get in touch with the upstream author.

Thanks,

-- 
Colin Watson                                  [cjwatson@flatline.org.uk]