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Re: Which license for a dictionary or GFDL with clause == free?



In message <[🔎] 20050329081234.GB30279@bignachos.com>, Brian Nelson <pyro@debian.org> writes
On Mon, Mar 28, 2005 at 11:03:19PM -0800, Josh Triplett wrote:
[CCed to Andrew McMillan; please see item 3 below.  Feel free to ignore
the rest of the message.]

Eddy Petrisor wrote:
> Now comes in the tricky part:
> The copyright holder believes in free software, but he doesn't want his
> work to be used in proprietary projects. So he wants some sort of
> license that would be simillar to GPL, but fitted for a dictionary.

OK; that goal is definitely doable, through the use of a copyleft Free
Software license.

Not in countries where a word list cannot be copyrighted, like the
U.S...

And the UK ...

Although in the UK we do have "database rights", where the effort put into compiling the list is considered a "protectable interest". This would protect a word list from literal copying. So a requirement that any modifications are distributed for free along with the original would probably be enforceable under UK law, just not under copyright.

Cheers,
Wol
--
Anthony W. Youngman - wol at thewolery dot demon dot co dot uk
HEX wondered how much he should tell the Wizards. He felt it would not be a
good idea to burden them with too much input. Hex always thought of his reports
as Lies-to-People.
The Science of Discworld : (c) Terry Pratchett 1999



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