On 10/05/2012 08:52 AM, Miro Hrončok wrote: > Hello, I asked an author of a public code I want to package to Fedora, > this is his answer: > >> You are free to use the code in any way you choose, including attempting to sell it for >> a profit (I think people have). The code was written long before licenses became standardized. >> Best regards, >> Steve Fortune > > When I asked him to specify the license, he added: > >> It's unlicensed. I just gave you permission to use it. > > Is it possible to package this into Fedora? > Thanks for your help. Unfortunately, no. His wording is inconsistent and confusing. Saying something is unlicensed means that we only have the minimum permissions granted by copyright law, which is not enough for us to include it in Fedora. If we ignore that (which we can't), his statement of permission to use the code in any way we choose is also incomplete, because "use" has a specific legal meaning, and it does not include things like modification or distribution (although, the latter is somewhat implied in his "permission" to attempt to sell the code for a profit). I would ask him politely if he would be willing to permit us to distribute his code under the terms of the MIT license (extremely permissive terms): Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. He can grant us this permission without needing to change his code, since he is the copyright holder, and it will make this software permissible in Fedora. Hope that helps, ~tom == Fedora Project _______________________________________________ legal mailing list legal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/legal
