Re: [sdcc-devel] Licensing and building from real source (original) (raw)

On Wed, Jul 11, 2007 at 01:53:58PM +0200, Michael Below wrote:

Am Mi 11 Jul 2007 13:07:03 CEST schrieb Bas Wijnen wijnen@debian.org:

      The  ASxxxx  assemblers  and the ASLINK relocating linker

are placed in the Public Domain. Publication or distribution of these programs for non-commercial use is hereby granted with the stipulation that the copyright notice be included with all copies.

Strictly speaking, the above does put the work in the Public Domain. If the statement legally is valid even if the intention is unclear, the stated restrictions are meaningless. I'd especially like input from debian-legal about this: With this statement, is the software indeed placed in the Public Domain?

I don't think so. Public Domain is an expression that is used by different people intending different meanings, and the license author explains what he wants it to be in the following sentences: Noncommercial use with attribution. At least from a german law point of view, it doesn't matter if the correct terms are used, as long as the will can be deduced with reasonable clarity.

To my understanding, the above doesn't put the work in the Public Domain because German law doesn't recognize the author's ability to put works in the Public Domain.

It's still a contradiction though, as Bas says, and it would be ideal to have this ambiguity cleared up.

-- Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world. vorlon@debian.org http://www.debian.org/

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