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Date:      07 Apr 2002 20:08:27 -0700
From:      swear@blarg.net (Gary W. Swearingen)
To:        Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com>
Cc:        Ian Pulsford <ianjp@optusnet.com.au>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Abuses of the BSD license?
Message-ID:  <fyy9fyzy38.9fy@localhost.localdomain>
In-Reply-To: <3CB01C27.CA0B2600@mindspring.com>
References:  <200204051922.06556@silver.dt1.binity.net> <3CAE7037.801FB15F@optusnet.com.au> <3CAEA028.186ED53E@optusnet.com.au> <3CAED90B.F4B7905@mindspring.com> <3CAEFFAA.91525BB3@optusnet.com.au> <3CAF74A9.135485DA@mindspring.com> <3CAFA609.32DD89E4@optusnet.com.au> <3CB01C27.CA0B2600@mindspring.com>

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Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> writes:

> Ian Pulsford wrote:
> 
> > Adding a license is not one a right you get automatically when you
> > get a piece of code.

You don't need the right (unless the license makes that a condition of
"getting" the piece of code).  Everyone has already been given license
to publish the other person's code (and his work in derivatives) and
you'll license your own work in the derivative (under your own license
which must be compatible in certain ways).  No problem for most
licensors who use straightforward licenses (including very open and very
closed ones, but not including copyleft-implementing ones).

> You can sublicense, depending on the original license of the
> code, and whther the new license permits the old license to
> remain, or requires that it be removed (in which case, you
> can not use the new license for the work itself, only for the
> aggregate (if there is one), or if the original author makes
> the change.

Let's remember that the presence or absence of licensing text may have
no bearing on whether or not there is license or a license contract.
(And similarly with copyright notices.)  The only licenses that really
matter are ones that cannot be read; those given or traded somehow.

Also, I think that a sublicense is not necessary since the whole world
has already been licensed to use the code of interest.  A license is
only needed for the new part of the derivative.  (17USC103: "The
copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the
material contributed by the author of such work, ...".)

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