I've been hoping a real IP lawyer would hop into this, but failing that...
I'm not a lawyer. I've dealt with lawyers over this issue a number of times over the years, though, so I have some experience. Experience says, lawyers have absolutely no consistency on this or anything else, but... Lawyers do, in legal documents such as agreements, often incorporate other documents by reference. My suggestion would be to beef up the reference so that it works even if the file is separated from the copy of LICENSE in the distribution. I would add (not replace) to the name of the license and the reference to the LICENSE file, a specific, permanent URL to a non-changing copy of the 1.1 license on an apache web site. (e.g. http://www.apache.org/LICENSE/1.1/LICENSE.TXT. I made that up, and what do you know, it actually works (along with any URL starting with /LICENSE)). In fact, I would suggest that the 1.2 license include such a permanent URL in the license itself, so the original content can be compared, and so it's explictly recorded what specific URL should be used. The understanding I have is that the form is not important, but rather, the intent be clear what license is applicable, and that the license itself be carefully worded. But surely someone can walk down the hall to a corporate IP lawyer and ask them? -----Original Message----- From: James Strachan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, December 28, 2001 2:03 AM To: Jakarta General List Cc: Jakarta Commons Developers Subject: Re: is a statement of the license in all source files? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Craig R. McClanahan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > On Thu, 27 Dec 2001, robert burrell donkin wrote: > > > am i right in thinking that for legal reasons we need to > > include the complete license text in every source file (rather than just > > the short form)? > > > > My recollection is that you are correct ... we need to be using the long > form, at least for the version 1.1 license (i.e. the current one). I thought I saw a mail go by a month or so ago whereby a short form of the licence was allowable in source files that refers the reader to a LICENSE.txt file? James _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
