"P Kishor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > alright. Let's do it again (DRH can chime in to educate us if I get > it wrong) -- >
You got it right as far as I can see. The problem with "public domain" (and this is something I did not know when I put SQLite in the public domain in 2001) is that some jurisdictions (ex: Germany) do not recognize the right of an author to dedicate a work to the public domain. I can say "this is in the public domain" all I want, but my words will not be legally binding in a German court, I'm told. The only way for me to get rid of the copyright on SQLite is to die, something I'm not planning to do in the near term. I'm told that a similar situation in other EU countries. Small companies do not seem to care about this. They happily use SQLite in their products and don't sweat the IP issues. Larger companies with large legal staffs, however, do tend to get concerned. They want a piece of paper containing my signature and legal language saying they can use SQLite. This is how they manage risk. For a small fee (small in comparison to the fee they are paying their own lawyer to negotigate the deal, that is) I am more than happy to provide them with this piece of paper. The license you buy includes indemnity, warranty of title, and a one-year warranty of function. So there is some substance to it. If some patent troll decides to come after SQLite (despite me using only 17+ year old algorithms) it is my financial neck on the line. Thus, if you are a company that has a lot of resources (and are therefore a lawsuit target) the license can be a pretty good deal. Four companies (whose names you would likely recognize but which I will not reveal) have purchased licenses so far (3 in the EU, 1 in the US). So far, everybody on all sides has been happy. But the licenses are entirely optional. Anybody can download a copy of the SQLite sources from the website and do anything they want with them. No license required. Just remember, if it breaks, you get to keep both pieces. ;-) -- D. Richard Hipp <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
