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Re: Licence query



On Tue, Feb 03, 2004 at 02:46:54PM +0000, Roger Leigh wrote:
> The following licence is in use by the libpqxx package (C++ binding
> for PostgreSQL), and a companion library (libpqxx-object) which I am
> writing.  It appears to be a BSD-style licence, with all UCB
> references removed, but I'd just like to check with you that it is
> DFSG-free since it is a different licence, and IANAL.  In particular,
> the "no advertising without prior written permission" clause looks
> restrictive, but appears similar to clause 4 of the BSD licence (could
> this be seen to conflict with DFSG clauses 5 and/or 6, since it
> restricts advertisers/advertising?).

Yup, that's the 3-clause BSD license. The useless drivel about
advertising is its hallmark. The clause you refer to is okay because
it doesn't actually mean anything. You can't use somebody else's name
to endorse products without their permission in the first place;
restating this in a license is a no-op.

Why UCB felt the need to insert this into the old BSD license, and why
some people persist in duplicating it, is beyond me.

-- 
  .''`.  ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield
 : :' :  http://www.debian.org/ |
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