[Note: I am CC'ing the debian-legal mailing list, which is concerned with the process of evaulating licenses to determine whether we can consider them "free" and include them in the distribution.]
>>>>> "jrj" == Joseph M Reagle Jr (W3C) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: jrj> We are going to have to put more thought into addressing this jrj> issue properly, but for the time being, the short answer is yes. jrj> 5.9 Is a DTD (Document Type Definition) covered by the document jrj> or software terms? jrj> DTDs are frequently part of our specifications and consequently jrj> -- in strict terms -- fall under the document copyright jrj> terms. However, as long as you do not use the same formal public jrj> identifier for a modified W3C DTD (which might confuse jrj> applications), you may treat the DTD under the software terms. jrj> This means that you are permitted to make a derivative or jrj> modified W3C DTD, but even under software terms you are obligated jrj> to include/retain the W3C copyright notice. We further appreciate jrj> a couple sentences regarding who made the modifications, when, jrj> and what changes were made in the original DTD -- a common jrj> software documentation practice. Great. We understand that normative documents and standards require protection not afforded by most of the licenses considered free by the Free Software Community. I believe you might even with to go further and stipulate that any modifications must be accompanied by notices so that it is completely clear such that the modified DTD is in no way a standard or blessed by the W30. Just to add one additional wrinkle, you might want to distinguish and allow changes (without changing the Formal Public Identifier) that have no functional different to any application. For instance, change the names of entity files or DTDs in order to facilitate system-wide integration. jrj> We expect to revisit this topic as metadata schemas become and jrj> increasingly important part of W3C specifications and as the jrj> metadata schema definition capabilities of XML and RDF advance. I agree. Again, my concern is based on the notion that sharing is what has made the Internet and the standards movement so great -- it is not that I am looking to modify or have modified any W30 distributed DTDs. Thank you for your clarification and prompt response on this complex issue. -- .....Adam Di [EMAIL PROTECTED]<URL:http://www.onShore.com/>
