Everyone, Laurie Petrycki of Pearson Technology Group (New Riders/MTP, Cisco Press, Addison-Wesley Professional, Prentice-Hall Professional Technical Group, Que, and Sams) has provided us with a new draft of the OPL. This draft retains all of the intents of the original license, but the language itself has been reworked by the PTG lawyers. (This is a "good thing.") I am attaching it below for your comment.
As for the content of the license itself, we have seen several good suggestions in the past few weeks. One is that the "publisher's name on the cover" option does not apply to (what now constitutes) the majority of works published under the OPL. I would like to recommend that this clause be moved down to become a third option. We have also read much about license proliferation and the confusion a person might feel when they see, on Freshmeat or somewhere else, a license listed as "OPL." Is that with no clauses? One or both clauses? rms is right in saying that we need different kinds of licenses for different kinds of works... but I'm not sure if options are the way to achieve different licenses. Therefore, I will make the following suggestion: We should create three licenses which provide varying levels of freedom / protection to the authors and publishers of documents. (1) The totally and completely free license Richard is finishing. (2) The OPL as below without the "publisher's name" clause but including the "no substantial modification" clause (not as an option, but as part of the license itself). (3) The OPL as below with all clauses (publisher's name, no substantial modification, no commercial book form) (again, not as options, but as part of the license itself). I will further recommend that we give these licenses distinguishing, yet similar, titles, such as Free Publication License (FPL), Verbatim Publication License (VPL), and Open Publication License (OPL). A scheme like this should provide some *much* needed consistency and clarity to the work we are all trying to help along. Of course, a naming scheme like the one above would require some flexibility. (Richard: are you willing to be flexible on the name of your license to create a consistency like that suggested above?) What does everyone think? David --- NEW OPL DRAFT (with language changes by corporate lawyers, but none of the content changes recommended above) I. REQUIREMENTS ON BOTH UNMODIFIED AND MODIFIED VERSIONS 1. This License applies to the __ edition of the work entitled ___________________________ (the "Work"). Each licensee is addressed as "you." 2. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, you may reproduce, modify and distribute the Work, in whole or in part, in any medium physical or electronic, provided that you adhere to the terms and conditions of this License, and give any recipients of the Work, or any part of the Work, a copy of this License. 3. You must display with each and every copy of the Work, or any part of the Work, the following copyright notice: Copyright (c) <year> by <author's name or designee>. Published in print by <Publisher>. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License. 4. Subject to the restrictions set forth in Section VI, Commercial redistribution of Open Publication-licensed material is permitted. 5. The names of the publisher of the print version of the Work and author shall appear on all outer surfaces of any physical medium of the Work and the publisher's name shall be as large as the title of the Work. II. COPYRIGHT AND SCOPE OF LICENSE 1. All rights, title and interest in the Work, including the copyright, is owned by the author(s) or its designee and all rights not specifically granted hereunder are expressly reserved by them. 2. Mere aggregation of the Work, or any part of the Work, with other work(s) or program(s) on the same media shall not cause this License to apply to those works or programs, provided that the aggregate work shall contain a notice identifying the inclusion of the Work, or any part of the Work, and appropriate copyright notice. III. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES; LIMITATION ON LIABILITY THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE WORK other than those warranties which are incapable of exclusion, restriction or modification under applicable law. THE WORK IS PROVIDED AND LICENSED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR A WARRANTY OF ON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, LICENSEE OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY THAT DISTRIBUTES OR LICENSES THE WORK, OR ANY PART OF THE WORK, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE, REPRODUCTION OR DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORK, OR ANY PART OF THE WORK, EVEN IF SUCH COPYRIGHT HOLDER, LICENSEE OR PERSON OR ENTITY THAT USES, DISTRIBUTES OR LICENSES THE WORK HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IV. REQUIREMENTS ON MODIFIED WORKS 1. If you modify the Work, or any part of the Work, as permitted hereunder, (including, for example only, translations, anthologies, compilations and partial documents) (the "Derivative Work"), you must: (a) label the Derivative Work as such. (b) identify yourself as the person who prepared the Derivative Work and disclose the date of the preparation. (c) display an acknowledgement of the original author and publisher of the printed version according to normal academic citation practices. (d) describe on or in connection with the distribution of the Work how the original work may be obtained. (e) not assert, suggest or imply an endorsement of the Derivative Work by the author or the publisher without the prior written permission of the author and publisher. (f) clearly indicate in the Derivative Work which parts have been modified or altered. 2. If you distribute the Work, in any format or medium, now known or hereafter known, you should: (a) provide e-mail notification to the authors and publisher of your intent to redistribute at least thirty days before your manuscript or media freeze, to give the authors time to provide updated documents. This notification should describe modifications, if any, made, or to be made, to the Work. (b) offer a free copy of the redistributed Work to its author(s). VI. LICENSE OPTIONS 1. If an option set forth below has been elected (as indicated by a check mark (() or x in a box below), such term is a condition of this License and must be included with the License in any copies of the Work or Derivative Work, or any parts thereof. (a) ( You are prohibited from ( preparing ( distributing substantively modified versions of the Work without the written permission of the author(s) and the publisher. "Substantive modification" is defined as a change to the semantic content of the document (including deletions), and excludes mere changes in format or typographical corrections. (b) ( You are prohibited from publishing this Work or any Derivative Work, in whole or in part, in book form for commercial purposes unless prior written permission is obtained from the rights holder. VII. SEVERABILITY. If any part of this License is found to be unenforceable in any jurisdiction, the remaining portions of the License remain in force.
