Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] OSS License

[Coalbunny <coalbunny@vcn.com>]

Dale, I think you're right.  Good observation.  I feel that the GPL as
you de4scribed would protect not only the design interests of the group
but also of the individual members as I would expect them to be
automatically covered by copyright law.  Through the use of the GPL it
would or should make it far easier to defend or protect such ideas. 
While the individual members may not be seeking financial interests in
their individual projects posted with our version of GPL, I feel that
some of us at least what the recognition and praise that in most (if not
all) cases is vertainly well due.   

Though you did miss one small detail- the squid.  I havn't heard of any
squid in the freshwater lakes and rivers of North America yet.  Lonh
Ness Scotland, possibly.  Flaming Gorge Utah, uhhhh, no.  But if we do
find one, I'm sure we can manage to share a couple beers with it.  :)
Carl


> "Dale A. Raby" wrote:
> 
> Well, this would solve plenty of problems... like finding an attourney
> willing to do pro bono work.  The GPL is well researched and tested.
> The only item I could see would be to go through the application
> procedure and get it covered before anything is etched in silicon.  We
> will probably need to be set up as a legal entity of some kind...
> PSUBS would probably qualify... or else issue the license to a single
> individual.  Now, somebody might well take the design and go into
> production... though I suspect that this would not be as much of a
> problem as it could be.  The GPL actually encourages this.
> 
> What the GPL will protect us from is an individual or legal entity
> taking our OSS and copyrighting the design and then trying to charge
> us for using our own design.  That would suck.  The other item is one
> of warranty... there is none.  As I understand it, if somebody builds
> this from our specs, they do so at their own risk.  If they tangle
> with heteroteuthis Harvei (not sure I got the spelling right), and end
> up being crushed in its tentacles and eaten, nobody can sue us.  In
> fact, if they dive to the bottom of their own swimming pool and the
> hull collapses because of our design flaw, we would still be
> covered... in theory.
> 
> The fact that there will be absolutely no warranty needs to be made
> abundantly clear in any documentation that we eventually release.
> 
> On Tue, 2003-01-28 at 10:20, Warrend Greenway wrote:
> 
> > They recommended the GPL, of which they already have a form
> > intended for non-software documents. The FSF is interested in
> > promoting the free exchange of information. As for liability,
> > that is one of the reasons that any hardware is totally out of
> > the question. Furthermore, they already cover software that
> > is medical, and aerospace in nature. It sounds like they are
> > simply interested in helping to make this kind of information
> > available to the public. Hhhmmmm. Digital signature, though...
> > I will check the message, I can have them put it on paper...But
> > they said that there were already projects that dealt with designs
> > like this under their protection.
> >
> > Warren.
> >
> > > Warren, which of their licenses did they recommend?  Did the agreement
> > > come with any kind of digital signature that can be verified?  I'm a bit
> > > surprised that they would be so quick to agree to something like this so
> > > early in the project... submersibles are inherently lawsuits waiting to
> > > happen.
> > >
> > > On Mon, 2003-01-27 at 13:51, Warrend Greenway wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hey, Dale. I contacted the FSF (Free Software Foundation), and
> > > > they agreed to harbor us under their legal umbrella. Any input
> > > > on this? They said that they are already covering similar projects,
> > > > and that they only problem would be hardware...Which we don't
> > > > want to cover anyhow. This would mean that we would be covered
> > > > under the GPL with a preamble. I am open to any discussion on this
> > > > point. The GPL would have some drawbacks, but it would solve our
> > > > license problems and give us a legal shield.
> > > >
> > > > Warren.
> > >
> > >
> > > Dale A. Raby
> > > Editor/Publisher
> > > The Green Bay Web
> > > http://www.thegreenbayweb.com
> > << dalesignature.gif >>
> >
> 
> 
> Dale A. Raby
> Editor/Publisher
> The Green Bay Web
> http://www.thegreenbayweb.com

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