John Darrington <j...@darrington.wattle.id.au> skribis: > On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 11:00:30AM +0200, Andreas Enge wrote: > > It starts like this: > "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its > documentation with or without modifications and for any purpose and > without fee is hereby granted" > > Does the provision "without fee" make it non-free? > > I don't think it does. > > From a native English speaker's perspective, I think it is free. It > says "for any purpose". Ipso facto, "any purpose" embraces for the purpose > of pecuniary gain through charges for distribution. > > The important words are: "Permission ... without fee ... is hereby granted." > In other words, the licensor does not demand a fee before granting that > permission. > If it had said "Permission ... upon payment of fee ... will be granted". Then > that > would have made the thing non-free.
Oooh. IOW “without fee” applies to “Permission”, not to “to use, copy, modify, and distribute”, right? That makes sense. I think I was fooled in the past by similar wording. Does it sound like 100% non-ambiguous to native speakers reading here? Thanks, Ludo’.
