Re: Short copyright notice in script file
On Friday 13 March 2009 03:23:55 pm Ben Finney wrote:
> Alexander Block <ablock@blocksoftware.net> writes:
>
> > So does this mean that it's not possible to use this script inside
> > Debian?
>
> It means that Debian has no license to redistribute the work.
Just in the interest of clearing up common copyright law misunderstandings, the right to redistribute is not a matter of copyright law. If I have the right to copy a work with no further explicit conditions or restrictions, I have the right to distribute those copies in the same way I have the right to give away my initial copy under the first sale doctrine. Copyright law is only interested in the acts that involve *copying*, everything after that is controlled by contract law. It is often the case that a right to copy is granted on the condition that the grantee accepts the condition that he not distribute that copy... but it requires an explicit contract to setup that arrangement, it is not the default. The default is that you can do whatever you want with the copies you rightfully posses.
Ditto for derivative works. If I have the right to create a derivative work I have the implicit right to sell/transfer/distribute that work unless restricted by further contractual obligations.
Seems the upstream author intent here is clear, and while I appreciate the objectives of those seeking to limit license proliferation, we don't need to make up claims about what rights are and are not granted to persue those objectives. Debian would be well within the law to distribute this code under the original terms specified.
-Sean
--
Sean Kellogg
e: skellogg@gmail.com
w: http://blog.probonogeek.org/
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.
We are the ones we've been waiting for.
We are the change that we seek.
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