Scope of copyright on derivative works

Fri Sep 28 21:32:30 UTC 2007

I take it then that you believe the "conditions" in the license include
the "permission" therein, and that that "permission" is included in
"this list"?
-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Swiger [mailto:chuck at codefab.com] 
Sent: Friday, September 28, 2007 2:28 PM
To: Smith, McCoy; Chris Travers
Cc: License Discuss
Subject: Re: Scope of copyright on derivative works
On Sep 28, 2007, at 2:04 PM, Smith, McCoy wrote:
> BSD license text is on the OSI website. http://www.opensource.org/ 
> licenses/bsd-license.php
>> Perhaps you can point out where in that text is the "requirement 
> that the permission grant" be included.

It seems to be right here:
"* Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
 * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution."
Chris used the phrase "permission grant" rather than "above copyright 
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer", but 
most of his key point here:
> What the BSD license does not do is prevent you from enforcing your 
> own copyrights as you see fit. Those could be released under the 
> GPL v2 or a proprietary license. However, you cannot extend the 
> GPL restrictions to copyrighted elements you don't have a claim 
> to. This means that BSD-licensed code is always under the BSD 
> license *only* unless the copyright author approves a license 
> change, ...

...makes perfect sense to me. What I'm not convinced about is this 
conclusion:
> ...and thus seems to pose no differences in GPL3 compatibility 
> issues when compared to the MS-PL.

...because the GPL forbids redistribution of GPL'ed code under any 
other terms, whereas the BSDL does not have such a restriction. As 
Jon Rosenberg mentioned in the original license submission:
"* Can MS-PL code be redistributed in combination with other code 
that is licensed under a different license?
As long as the original MS-PL licensed code is redistributed under 
the MS-PL license, then the MS-PL places no restrictions on 
combining MS-PL code with other code that is licensed under another 
license. Licenses that prohibit the distribution of code under any 
terms other than the terms of that license will not be compatible 
with the MS-PL."
-- 
-Chuck