Frank Küster wrote: > Ralf Stubner <ralf.stubner@web.de> wrote: >> On Fri, Apr 14, 2006 at 15:14 +0200, Frank Küster wrote: >>> ,---- >>> | %%% Copyright (C) 1994 Aloysius G. Helminck. All rights reserved. >>> | %%% Permission is granted to to customize the declarations in this >>> | %%% file to serve the needs of your installation. However, no permission >>> | %%% is granted to distribute a modified version of this file under >>> | %%% its original name. >>> `---- > > That would be just on the right side of the border set by DFSG #4 (note > that it's a TeX input file, so it is both source and used form), but No, it falls just on the wrong side; licenses can restrict the name of the *work*, as in the human-parsable name, but filenames serve as a functional component of a work. This issue came up with the previous version of the LPPL. For example, would you accept as DFSG-free a license which said you must change the SONAME of a library if you changed the library? That would mean you could not legally create a compatible work. >>> But it doesn't even allow use - don't know whether this is implicitly >>> granted? >> I would vote for implicitly granted usage rights, but IANAL. > > Can we in fact assume such implicit granting of rights? It seems logic > to me, because there are no "needs of your installation" if all I may do > is meditate over the contents of the file. But I'm not sure whether > what seems logic to me is logic in IP law... Generally, I think you can assume the right to *use* something. However, you can't assume the right to modify or distribute, and this license does not grant any permission to distribute. It also seems to restrict which modifications you can make; among other things, you can't modify it to serve the needs of *other* installations, or modify anything other than declarations. It may well *intend* to grant the right to distribute (unmodified or with another filename) and the right to all possible modifications, but it doesn't appear to actually do so. - Josh Triplett
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