Joel R Schlosberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Michael Stutz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > It should not be necessary to include a copy of the license when > > distributing a work in object form; including the full sources > > (which would contain a copy of the license with its copyright > > information) will still be one option, but you should be able to > > include just a written offer for the sources or (if you are not a > > commercial entity), pass along someone else's written offer and > > not include the license at all. > The best way to avoid hassles of this sort is, I think, to simply > offer a lot of different options; then chances are greater that at > least one will be practical. The three options you've suggested are good ones and I'm trying to come up with a way to make it less of a hassle without defeating the intent of the license. I said that it shouldn't be necessary to include a copy of the license with the Object Form of a work, but it is actually important, because recipients of a Work in its Object Form have to know that they are permitted to redistribute it (and know that they can get its Source Data, if desired). In your case, with one-page flyers and fact sheets that are shorter than the text of the license itself and distributed in a tangible medium, it seems that you should be able to distribute it with the normal copyright notice and offering the license and sources to those who would like them, but the real problem arises once the material in Object Form is redistributed without a license. I'm aware of the New Scientist article which references a URL -- it seems like a good idea but the problem is that URLs aren't here to last; I'm still undecided about this. The FSF's solution for this problem is to use a "simple, all-permissive license" for the short work. I'm not sure if that's the best solution, either. And putting them in the public domain is definitely not a good solution -- why allow your effort, no matter how small, to be of use to a proprietary work? Another idea for your situation: can you publish the flyers with your copyright and a short notice permitting redistribution, and then once you've made a substantial amount of material publish and copyleft the collection as a whole? > (3) Giving a mailing address where you can send a stamped, self- > addressed envelope and recieve back a printed copy of the License by > snail-mail. We could talk to the Free Software Foundation or other > copyleft advocacy groups who might be willing to provide this service. That would be great, but I doubt the FSF would be willing to take that duty on -- I think it is outside their scope, and I can't think of any other corporation that might be willing to do this over the long term. Even better would be if the FSF took care of the licensing altogether, improving the GPL so that it could be used for these other things.
