[MUD-Dev] Re: My vision for DevMUD

[Hal Black]

On Tue, Nov 03, 1998 at 11:43:51PM +0000, Jon A. Lambert wrote:
> --cut--
> 
> This software is public domain.  You may freely distribute and 
> use this code in any public, private or commercial endeavor.  The 
> authors of this code make no warranties explicit or implied as to the 
> suitability of this code for any purpose whatsoever.  The authors 
> assume no liability for any damages directly or indirectly caused by 
> the execution or possesion of this software.  This liability limit 
> includes, but is not limited to, damages to computer hardware, 
> software and peripherals,  financial loss, illegal activity, physical 
> harm, emotional trauma, and death. Any entity executing this 
> software for any purposes does so at their own risk and peril.
> 
> --cut--

You also might want to mention something about disclaiming implied warranties
such as merchantability or fitness for a particular purchase.  Copying some
other disclaimers might be a good idea.

I still wouldn't mind a license that prohibited people from removing
the authors' names from the comments of the code and the credits.

WRT ApplePiMan's concern about a license "locking up": if a product is
distributed under a free license...  Then you have it under a free license.
To the best of my knowledge, once something is out there with a free license,
that license can't be retroactively revoked.  (Ask your corporate lawyer to 
be sure) Future editions of the product and any bugfixes done by the copyright
owner can include more restrictive licenses of which you don't get the benefit.
But how is that different from your company creating their own derivative work
from PD source code and not sharing it with others?  Functionally the same:

Scenario 1:
1. Product owned by me version 1.0 is released under some free license
2. Product owned by me version 1.1 is released under commercial license

Scenario 2:
1. Product owned by me version 1.0 is released under PD license
2. Product is modifyed by anyone to version 1.1 then released under
   their own commercial license

Either way, Scenario 1 or 2, you don't get the mods for version 1.1 free of
charge, but you can still have version 1.0 under the original license.

I am not an attorney.  This does not constitute legal advice nor does it
establish an attorney-client relationship.

 8')