Re: Copyright of 1913 Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
On Thu, Mar 26, 1998 at 08:38:32PM -0500, Bob Hilliard wrote:
> I am packaging the client server software produced by the DICT
> Project, which is under the GPL. I am not sure if the dictionary
> databases that are used with these programs should be packaged or not.
> (They are available for downloading from the net, and may be accessed
> with the client software.)
>
> I will post more specifics later, and ask the developer community
> to recommend if they should or should not be packaged. First,
> however, I would like to consider their copyright.
>
> Most of the databases seem to satisfy the DFSG. However, the
> most important of these, the 1913 Webster's Unabridged dictionary, is
> questionable. Following is its copyright notice:
>
> This electronic version may be used freely for personal
> use or for research, and may be freely distributed provided
> that the entire set of files are copied, and the headers
> and copyright notices are not modified or deleted.
> The inclusion of more than one per cent of the text of
> this dictionary in a product for sale requires the express
> written permission of MICRA Inc. Sale of entire copies,
> including all headers and copyright notices, will not be
> considered a violation of this provision.
>
> It is most unlikely that anyone would want to include more than
> 1% and less than 100% of this in a derived work, for sale or
> otherwise. However, I believe that this provision violates the DFSG,
> so that, if packaged, it would go into non-free.
They don't mention modification, and therfore modification is forbidden. As
only personal use and research is allowed, commercial use is forbidden.
It can go in the non-free section, but not elsewhere.
Marcus
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