On Thu, Jan 24, 2008 at 11:23:53AM +1100, Ben Finney wrote: > John Halton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > On Wed, Jan 23, 2008 at 11:01:35PM +0100, Julien Cristau wrote: > > > > > * line 81-83: "OpenVision also retains copyright to derivative > > > > > works of the Source Code, whether created by OpenVision or by > > > > > a third party." I think this could threat this software > > > > > freedom. > > On further reflection, I'm inclined to agree. The fact that it says > > "OpenVision *retains* copyright" strongly implies that it is simply > > talking about maintaining the status quo, not about changing any > > copyright ownership. If the intention was for copyright to be > > assigned to OpenVision then clearer wording to this effect would be > > needed. > It's the "derivative works [...] whether created by OpenVision or by a > third party" that muddies the water. This could be rationally > interpreted as a claim to "retain" copyright in *all* derived works of > the original, including all derivatives, even those parts created "by > a third party". Er, of course that's what it means. "Derivative work" is a term *defined* in US copyright law as *meaning* "those transformations of a work in which the author maintains a copyright interest". This is nothing more than a redundant, boilerplate assertion of the owner's copyright under law. > That interpretation would fairly easily lead to the conclusion that > the creator of the derivative work *doesn't* have copyright in the > work, since OpenVision's terms explicitly take it away. Only if you were operating in a vacuum with no understanding of the terminology, or how copyright operates. It's not possible for OpenVision to deprive someone else of their copyright by including a statement in a license for OpenVision's own work. -- Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world. Ubuntu Developer http://www.debian.org/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
