Re: Some licensing questions regarding celestia

[Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com>]

Quoting Don Armstrong (don@donarmstrong.com):

> The absense of a statutory mechanism isn't really at issue here. There
> are hosts of contractual forms for which there is no applicable
> statute.[1] The US legal system is not statute bound, as it is a
> common law system.

Allow me to reiterate, then, what I believe I've already mentioned once
before:  There is also an absence of caselaw. 

> > Sundry warranty issues.
> 
> Warranty isn't a duty of ownership. Warranty is a duty of a provider,
> distributor or retailer.

You seem to be being willfully dense:  If I put my name on a piece of
software and it becomes publicly available in a lawful fashion and is
claimed to have harmed someone, I am likely to face liability claims.
For that purpose, it really doesn't matter who was the
provider/distributor/retailer.

> In both cases, you have the a person who is presumably the copyright
> holder making the statement. If they're not the copyright holder, you
> have a problem. If they are, you're ok.

You seem to be being willfully dense:  As I've already clarified,
murky title and permission problems correlate strongly in my experience
to assertions of public domain status -- as is not the case with
statements of BSD-licensing.

> That's a problem with people making false statements, rather than a
> problem with the concept of placing a work into the public domain
> itself.

You seem to be being willfully dense:  As I've already clarified, those
erroneous statements correlate strongly in my experience to assertions
of public domain status -- as is not the case with statements of
BSD-licensing.

> What seems to be occuring here is a conflating of facts and law.

This allegation is incorrect.

I have made assertions in both realms, but have made them separately.
If you wish to more clearly understand what I wrote, I suggest you re-read.

-- 
Cheers,             The genius of you Americans is that you never make 
Rick Moen           clear-cut stupid moves, only complicated stupid moves 
rick@linuxmafia.com that make us wonder at the possibility that there may be 
                    something to them that we are missing. --Gamel Abdel Nasser